These Photographs are Fake!

These Photographs are Fake!

Artists engaged in Misdirection, Deception and Falsehoods

In this time of uncertainty and indecision to focus on art is not exactly what it presents itself to be seems appropriate.  The exhibit’s emphasis is on the medium of photography, once seen as a means of representing fact - although now not so much. Nonetheless photographs are what is being presented - if they can be trusted is a very different thing. These are strategic works that use the photograph as a device to deceive, craft fictions, parody and often with a sardonic wit to question social conventions. The earliest photographs in the show are circa 1920s with the most recent being from 2014. A time span that includes many technical innovations in photography and printing, as well as the evolution of art movements, all used to good effect by the artists. The artists included in the exhibition are Ernst Caramelle, Fred Ellenberger, Terry Fugate-Wilcox/Jean Freeman Gallery, Mike Kelley, Les Krims, Yves Klein, Nikki S. Lee, Linda Montano, Mark Patsfall, Barbara Pollack, Jim Shaw, Annie Sprinkle, Spiritualist Photography (Mina "Margery" Crandon), Elaine Sturtevant, Throbbing Gristle, TODT, and May Wilson.

Exhibition organized by Peter Huttinger, Volatile [redux] Art, Books and Editions

With support from the 2020 FotoFocus Biennial

Clay Street Press Gallery

1312 Clay Street

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Exhibit dates: September 24 through October 23

Hours: Saturdays from 2 to 4:30pm, and weekdays by appointment

Contact: huttinger@cinci.rr.com

Reactional Aesthetics: Art of the 1990s from the Robert J. Shiffler Collection & Archive

October - November 2021

During the 1990s, artists worked within different mediums to simultaneously explore individual identity and social constructs. If the art of the 1980s leaned on image appropriation, political critique and, often,

emotionally detached imagery, then this new generation of artists turned to more personal forms of expression to comment of larger societal issues. These artists used their own bodies, biographies, alter egos and illnesses to stake out positions relative to mainstream hierarchies and social norms. This perspective was initiated, in part, by the sociopolitical controversies surrounding the 1980s AIDS epidemic and the later “culture wars” surrounding NEA funding of performances and exhibitions by the artists Ron Athey, Karen Finlay, Holly Hughes, Robert Mapplethorpe and David Wojnarowicz among others. 

Artists included in the exhibition are Janine Antoni, Ron Athey, Kathe Burkhart, Luca Buvoli, Mary Carlson, S. J. Curtis, Cheryl Donegan, Karen Finley, Bob Flanagan & Sheree Rose, Nan Goldin, Greggory Green, Christine Hill, Robin Kahn, Sean Landers, Nancy Linn, Barton Lidice Benes, Mary McCarthy, Linda M. Montano, Alix Pearlstein, Trudie Reiss, Helen Sadler, Kerri Scharlin, Julia Scher, Annie Sprinkle, Sarah Stolar, and Pae White.

Robert J. Shiffler began collecting in 1986, with a concentration during the 1990s. Robert assembled a multifaceted collection of artworks representing contemporary themes that embraced aesthetic, cultural, and political issues from diverse perspectives. The collection consisted of over 600 works of art including paintings, sculpture, and installations. He also built an archive, the research component of the collection, that included artist books, editions, in addition to artist performance relics and documentation. The Robert J. Shiffler Foundation was established in 1998, and continued through 2001, to administer the collection and archive. The Foundation mission was to present and promote new and experimental art through tours, special events, educational programs, and exhibitions of works from the Robert J. Shiffler Collection and Archive. This was realized through programming at the Foundation's Greenville Ohio gallery, loans of artworks to arts institutions and universities in Ohio, as well as regional, national, and international venues.

A Volatile [redux] Project

Clay Street Press Gallery

1312 Clay Street

Cincinnati, OH 45202