Visual Dialtone

Wandering by the Ryan McGinley images on the wall at Ratio 3 there are a couple good scenes to take in.  The content emulates fading polaroids or yellowing ektachromes taken on what appears to be a nudist camp vacation.  Most carry with them an ambiguous sentimentality and others a humorous absurdity.  A young guys head nestled in the arms of a towering bear literally in one photo by the door over promises on what the rest of the show delivers in the end.  A nude couple on roller skates careening across one photo titled "Dakota Crashes" also aspires to greatness but when it comes down to it – my date said it best – it’s great but it’s like any snapshot once you’ve seen it your done, like reading a magazine. 

My own critical ambivalence brought me to survey a well known collector to see what he thought.  He felt that while it reminded him of what he used to do in the 60’s the images themselves looked like nobody was having any fun at all.  After echoing the trueism that good art is something the viewer must love we both agreed their was no love here and if you were looking for anything it wasn't going to be free.
The tenor of the exhibit shifted slightly when the Mayor showed up with his g-friend in tow but soon it was time to go. 

Despite being lodged in a zone between A Happening and 90’s neurotic realism this work has a unique strand of un-frightening creepiness.  If you remember what you felt watching a Jodorosky movie or recall the Freudian confusion of discovering your parents having timid sex that’s sort of what sits in the distant background for me at least and what I can walk away with.  Other than that… pphhht!