Another posthumous show of photographs by
Luigi Ghirri, La Città at Matthew Marks Gallery feels a bit overt coming
in from the West Hollywood streets. This is the West Coast’s first exhibition
devoted entirely to Ghirri and as if to prove the point, La Città culls
19 pictures from his archive that bear a distinct likeness to the landscape and
architecture of Los Angeles. Granted, this is not a difficult task for one
familiar with Ghirri’s work. The omission of his popular beach and palm
pictures is a welcome measure of restraint while the occasional nod to
Hollywood’s culture industry is impossible to pass up. But rather than
grounding us in Italy’s early 1970s, the tawny veil on these vintage c-prints
places us squarely in L.A.’s smoggy basin.
A Thomas Demand, hanging in the back room
across from two more Ghirris, is a knowing coda that provides the missing touch
of Los Angeles gloss (thank you Diasec process) and reminds us of Ghirri’s
prominence in La Carte d'Après Nature curated by Demand just a few years
ago.
Fortunately for us, all this gimmickry is
simply the pretext to present a group of good pictures. Modestly sized,
slightly discolored, immaculately framed, it is difficult to separate the
images from the objects here. Their presence is obvious yet problematic, one
begins to wonder if there is some false charm in their recent antiquity that is
confusing the issue (cue Instagram filter). But the clarity of vision that
these pictures present overwhelms the tinge of vintage/hipster/indie/boho-ism.
Their perceptual dexterity and dry humor—Ghirri moves easily between formal
invention and straight bon mot—insist the photographer was not content to rely
on the passage of time to lend his pictures significance.
Through Jun. 21st
By Heyward Hart
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