Roid

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Spruth Magers London

All photos © Spruth Magers/ Philip-Lorca diCorcia

It is hard to jingle time to write, but here I am trying to twist one out even though my eyelids are heavy and I honestly would like to curl up on the sofa with a glass of wine... But, I also know that it will make me feel a lot better to do a post here. 

I went to the Philip-Lorca diCorcia exhibit at the Spruth Magers last week and the gallery kindly e-mailed me polaroids of the ones focused on the women, from these again I picked my favorites. diCorcia depicts full stories in tiny little polaroids which makes you want to hold onto and get closer to some of them, while with others you want to throw away in despise. (These you will have to go and see for yourself). I suddenly came to think that this sort of depicts what choices we make and what we fall for, also what we are strong enough to bear.

The two rooms in the the gallery always surprises me with their rawness compared to the other pristine Mayfair galleries. They have an unfinished feeling, like they are just there temporarily... but, I think this also makes it more attractive somehow. There is not much space but the shows I have seen here so far, has been memorable. This time the walls have one thin aluminium rail stretching from one room to the next with these small polaroids stacked closely together on top. While moving your eyes from one picture to the other you let yourselves into the scenes depicted and their secrets.

30 years history of diCorcia's polaroids are shown here for the first time.

DiCorcia first came to prominence in the 1970s with photographs that defied definition, existing in the space between documentary fact and movie-style fiction. The meticulous staging of quotidian scenes of family and friends lent the images an unparalleled sense of heightened drama and ambiguity. In the 1990s diCorcia turned his focus from scenes of domesticity to the American tradition of street photography exemplified by photographers such as Robert Frank and Gary Winogrand. In a seminal series that was retrospectively entitled 'Hustlers', diCorcia photographed men who had moved to Hollywood seeking their fortune, only to find themselves working the Sunset Strip as male prostitutes.

          - Spruth Magers

If I remember correctly, I think each of these polaroids can be bought for £3,000.

With Love 

Kristin