The excitement of the city is the name of the game for James Griffioen, Dylan Vitone and Jay Wolke, the three photographers whom curator Aaron Ott has brought together to provide diverse probes into the “social landscape.” Wolke’s large-format color photos assault the eye with vivid energy, as in his dazzling study of the red streaks of car lights, coursing past a billboard featuring the Marlboro Man taming a stallion, down an expressway exit ramp. Vitone’s black-and-white panoramic images of street scenes and social events, which he pieces together seamlessly from separate shots in the computer, vibrate with activity that is never regimented into a single meaning. Griffioen gives us color studies of the ruins of Detroit that revel in teeming decay and destruction. Wolke hits the top of the mark in his separate series of small color candids of people sitting in their often battered sedans making love, deeply brooding or flexing their muscles. Don’t look for meditation here; these artists are visual pep-pill pushers. (Michael Weinstein)
Through October 31 at David Weinberg Gallery, 300 W. Superior
Opposites Attract: A Review of Nancy and David Bechtol at ARC Gallery No two artists could be farther apart in concept and style. While David’s long, long panoramic images are breathtaking in their portrayal of North American landscapes, Nancy’s wild, erratic and excitingly dynamic work is at the other end of the photographic spectrum.
