By Anna Piazza
A crowd slowly diffused throughout the Rosenberg Gallery in Calkins on Wednesday afternoon, bemused and tender looks spreading across the faces of students and professors alike at the sight of Harvey Wang’s America. The exhibition, running until December 11, showcases black and white photographs taken across the United States from the ’70s up until 1995. The collection is personal, featuring photographs that have touched him and influenced and affected all work coming after it. His pieces capture everyday people in sometimes mundane situations, yet are striking and touching nonetheless. He is able to take such situations and turn them into images of beauty and honesty.
The exhibition begins with an untitled work of an elderly woman sassily putting on her glasses. Her strange placement in the photo, oddly cropped and at the bottom right, accentuates her capriciousness and draws the viewer immediately towards her.. Her youthful spirit transcends the photo and its whimsical nature sets the tone for the entire show. Photos such as Brighton Beach NY, of older women coupled up and dancing across a boardwalk and the delightfully impish piece Central Park Zoo, of an elderly woman watching while wearing a glittery heart antennae headband, echo the same playfulness. Wang is able to not just capture events but bring out personality and vigor throughout his pieces.
Absurdity seems to be one of Wang’s favorite attributes. Strange paradoxes seem to be the basis of a few of his pieces. One of the more striking images of his collection is an untitled piece of a couple looking out at Niagara Falls. The intention, of course, is a sweet shot of a couple enjoying their time, yet one cannot help to notice its strangely erotic characteristics. The man holds on to the woman in a hiked up skirt revealing a run in her fishnet stockings, not to mention her over the top platform shoes. Suddenly it seems slightly odd to view it as a sentimental photo. Aborigines in NY has the same absurdity on a lighter scale, showing the Australian natives caught walking in a line in front of a New York City back drop.
Wang rounds off the show with simple and subdued, yet at the same time emotional, images of both young and old people throughout the country. Richmond VA, as well as Saratoga NY gives a look at candid moments that seem to say so much of the subjects in them. These are the pieces that glue his show together and remind us of his wonderful talent. His pieces are easily relatable because he is able to capture personalities so well, finding beauty in what is often seen as provincial. In naming his show America Wang reminds the viewer of the idea behind the whole show. He portrays the sincerity and truth of what a truly great America can be by breaking through preconceived notions and diversity. Wang reveals an underlying purity and honesty that can be found in every person.
Cape Cod Tourists – 1975 by Harvey Wang