Searching the Horizon

Darius Kinsey: Highlead logging using steam skidder

The New Britain Museum of American Art has a new exhibit titled Searching the Horizon: The Real American West 1830-1920 (through March 4th, 2012). As the title suggests, it contains art of and about the American west. Through paintings, photographs, sculptures and other objects, it explores four themes: Settlement, Landscape, Native Americans and Urbanization and Industry. I wasn't too impressed with the paintings, but the exhibit contains some great photography. Darius Kinsey (see the photo at left) chronicled the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest. His photos show the enormity of the undertaking, as well as the often dangerous activities it involved.

Photography at the Wadsworth

I kinda like photography. Fortunately for me, and for you if you know what's good for you, the Wadsworth Atheneum has two excellent photography exhibits on display. The most prominent is Patti Smith's (Patti Smith!) "Camera Solo" show. You may have seen the ads on I-84. The show is a mixture of intimate family photos, shots of places she loves, pictures of the ephemera of her dead muses, and the actual ephemera of her dead muses. You can see Robert Maplethorpe's slippers. His actual slippers. And the pope's (not the current one). Anyway, all the photos are taken on an old Polaroid camera and printed using traditional black and white printing methods. Nothing digital. Like the people and objects they document, they two will fade.

Claire Beckett answering questions at
"Art After Hours"

The other exhibit is Claire Beckett's "Simulating Iraq". Claire Becket documents, with a 4x5 camera (extra points for bulk and weight), a training facility for U.S. troops heading to Afghanistan. Civilians and soldiers are recruited to play roles such as insurgents, butchers, injured troops, ad imams. A false reality that will all too soon transition into reality for the troops involved. The photos ask us to examine our cultural attitudes and changing approach to fighting wars. Soldiers are immersed in this theme park (and some of the structures do look as those they were constructed for a third-rate theme park) version of Afghanistan so that they will be a more effective fighting force. So that they can more effectively engage the enemy and kill them. It's an interesting concept to think about. I'm not sure if I think it is necessarily a bad thing (theoretically, soldiers will be more prepared and thus less likely to make costly, in terms of lives, mistakes). Regardless of your perspective, the photos are beautifully shot and printed with great detail. Well worth checking out.