Ever writhing in his ever-expanding tortured dance around the finalities of the human condition—vulnerability and death—globalized Guatemalan photo-artist Luis Gonzalez Palma has now reached the point at which our beautiful weakness confronts our need for protection, which always carries with it devastating costs. The centerpiece of this show is Gonzalez Palma’s suite of miniature framed photographs of “Bodyguards”—severe men in ruffs who project ruthlessness with more than a hint of brutality. Who are they protecting? We get an idea when we see five miniatures of bucolic scenes with children at ease, empty chairs and empty tables, all in streams, that are shielded from the horrors that the world doles out, yet are still cut with apprehension, isolation and vacancy. When will Gonzalez Palma accept and admit fully his root insight that life is a losing proposition? If he ever does, his work will be at an end. (Michael Weinstein)
Through February 28 AT Schneider Gallery, 230 W. Superior
Lost in Translation: A Review of Crip* at Gallery 400 The strongest works in the exhibition succinctly express the ways the artist relates to their own body while calling out how the artist’s body and body of work has been perceived or coded against norms or ideals.
Repurposing AI: A Review of Stephanie Dinkins at Stamps Gallery While this show is timely for everyone, I consider its setting within a university art gallery and emerging tech hub like the city of Ann Arbor a subversive provocation which Dinkins invites the greater public—including members of the university community—to consider our own positionality to AI and technology.
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