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Photo installation, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, 1997.
Gelatin silver and type-R prints
Allegory is a series of photographic groupings. The central group, Every Inch of Jacek, consists of 80 extreme close-ups of the entirety of one big hairy gay man's body. I photograph Jacek too close to record even gesture and expression, subtracting the markers that locate him in a sexuality and class. You could say my portrait is of Jacek's sense of his own body, its parts that clamor for attention and stimulation, and its desolate regions of unidentifiable skin. Every Inch of Jacek is flanked by a number of related photographs, which give the installation a non-linear narrative. One group on the left is comprised of images of the transitory - most explicitly the hyphen between the two dates on a tombstone. On the right of Jacek, a photo of blue curtains makes an issue of his nudity. Their color refers to the color of fabric in Renaissance paintings, and makes an allegory of idea-saturated flesh that is both noble and aroused.
Allegory
Installation view
Gelatin silver prints, C-print, dimensions variable
Allegory
Allegory I (1-9), 1997.
Framed gelatin silver prints, 13.5" x 13.5" each
Allegory
Allegory I (8), 1997.
Framed gelatin silver print, 13.5" x 13.5"
Allegory
Allegory I (2), 1997.
Framed gelatin silver print, 13.5" x 13.5"
Allegory
Allegory II (1-3), 1997.
Framed gelatin silver prints, 13.5" x 13.5" each
Allegory
Allegory III (1-3), 1997.
Framed gelatin silver prints, 13.5" x 13.5" each
Allegory
Every Inch of Jacek, 1997.
80 framed and toned gelatin-silver prints, 63” x 99” installed
Allegory
Curtains, 1997.
Framed type-R print, 30" x 30"
Allegory
Allegory IV (1-3), 1997.
Framed gelatin silver prints, 13.5" x 13.5" each