More ConTEXT
It's hard to avoid reading when looking at Richard Nagler's photography especially at his show at George Krevsky Gallery this month. Less didactic and more integrated into the image than say Krueger's photo statements Nagler waits for his images to take on their final structure in real time. A word on the side of a building whether it be stencil or graffiti can serve as the seed for a picture. The ambiguity of commercial signage is also used as part of an image created by waiting. Where Bresson's photos might be considered a more kinetic version of image-hunting waiting on a street corner for the someone’s presence to interact with the visual concrete of a word can understandably require the patience of a Montana fly fisherman. Begun in 1977 Nagler’s linkage of text tags to figures range into the present day. They capture people and parts of Oakland who are no longer there as well as places in Miami. A black and white from 1981 shows a shadow of man in a hat floating under a sign reading "Downtown". This combination creates an alienating but noir-ishly haunting composition. From this year a man stands at the opening of a chain-link fence adorned on top with razor wire to the right of "VICTORY" emblazoned on the back of a one-story white building. Is this “Mission Accomplished on the home front? While an interaction with text and figure may seem like an incidental setup each photo captures more than simple verite. The character of the figure functions as the centerpiece of a narrative which includes a call-and-response dialogue with the text. For example a woman walking past a store front in a bright red coat has her head framed by a circle with the word "special" painted in it. Like winning the lottery this woman for a split-second has become a red-clad angel only because she just happened to be walking by and be of the right height. In photography, waiting yields meticulous result and Nagler continues to illustrates how many possibilities are generated in a simple arrangement. This is a quiet show with a great return. George Krevsky Gallery is located on the 2nd Floor of 77 Geary Street - downtown San Francisco.
