Sunday, January 14, 2007

David Skalicky at the Kachmann

Here's David watching Mee Kyung Shim emote about his photography at the Kachmann opening on Saturday. Mee did a good job expressing what most of us were feeling. I think I'd seen most of David's images online, but it was nice to be around them in person for once. Individually, they all look like pieces of stories, and when they are assembled on a gallery wall, your mind tries to fit them into some kind of narrative arc, and the places this exercise takes you can be jarring. But in an invigorating way. There is some tenderness in these, too. Together, they could be scenes from some slightly ominous Midwestern bildungsroman, innocence and experience.
Many of his images remind me of the "untitled film still" series from Cindy Sherman, a good thing:Untitled #96, Cindy Sherman

I love knowing that these stories happened around here. It makes your local landscape feel a little more fertile knowing that people like David can use a life in Indiana to come up with things that surprise you.

7 comments:

zzzzz said...

Ahh the things I miss when I finally leave home.

Mr. Hill said...

That's how it works. It's home trying to get you back.

LetsGoThrow said...

On the other hand, when you leave home you get to do some pretty amazing things also.

Yesterday, I went to a Dave Eggers and Valentino Deng book reading / signing at the 826Chi tutoring center. It's in the back of "The Boring Store" - a secret agent supply shop. There were easily 250+ people crammed into the small room. I had to sit on top of a bookcase. Great stuff, great stuff.

Mr. Hill said...

Have you read What is the What yet? I almost picked it up this weekend.

C just finished the 2006 Non-Required Reading compilation that 826 put together, and she laughed all the way through it.

LetsGoThrow said...

What is the What is about fourth on my list of books to read - Pynchon's book is really slowing down my fiction intake.

I loved the Non-Required Reading so much so that I'm having my students create a graphic novel-Romeo and Juliet with contributor's notes and such inspired from the book...

Would you mind sending some idea / docs regarding your personal folklore (mythology?) unit. I would like my students to do something similar with The Odyssey

Mr. Hill said...

Well, naturally you would feel that way--you're Skalicky's doppleganger, you are.

I'll have to get the 2007 non-required. That series is nice because it saves you the time and money it would take to follow all the journals and zines it draws from.

sarahjane said...

how hilarious, i just posted a blog (www.laziestjane.blogspot.com) about the books i've been reading, which happened to include the 2005 edition of best american nonrequired reading.