The Garden, 2004
On my various travels around the world to see the “stars of the western art canon” for myself (I have at least five different pictures in front of the “Mona Lisa,” just so you know) it is inevitable that a conversation will start up with fellow travelers over how different the painting/sculpture/photograph is “up close.”
Similar to how every celebrity Gawker stalks is “way shorter” in person, every work of art has a different quality to it when seen in real life. I never realized that Salvador Dali’s “Persistence of Memory” (at MoMA) was so miniscule until I saw it for the first time. Nor did I understand the texture an Agnes Martin painting has (and how really awful most reproductions are) until I saw Pace Wildenstein’s most recent Martin show.
Addie Juell’s photographs of sticker compositions face a similar dilemma. The first time I saw her work on her website, I thought they were great. There is something about them that draws you in – maybe it’s the subjects, the execution or both? But while the reproductions certainly give insight into Addie’s personality, my curiosity as an art lover is piqued.
Girl, 2004
In one of my courses at NYU, my classmates constantly apologize for “horrible reproductions” of images scanned for powerpoint presentations. It is amazing how technology advances in the world of digital photography, but reproductions of art actually seem to be getting worse. Inevitably in most reproductions, the color will be off, any richness of the surface texture will be flattened, the delightful imperfections and touch of human hand will be blended away, and you consider yourself lucky if the photographer was familiar enough with the work to shoot it from a good angle. It’s a shame, but digital and even more conventional photographic reproductions simply cannot compete with seeing a work of art in person.
For two weeks I have heard about how “rich,” “textural,” “pristine” and even “yummy” Addie’s photographs are to look at up close. After spending a lot of that time viewing her website and straining my eyes to get a better look, I’ve come to a conclusion: digital just doesn’t do her justice. However there is good news! Addie Juell’s first show The Way It Is will be on view at jen bekman for six weeks (March 23 - April 29)! That gives crazy art people like me plenty of time to fall in love with them again – this time in person.
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