Anna Gaskell

Rating:
Summary: Rather boring, actually....
Review: Anna Gaskell recently put up an exhibition in my school's art gallery, and I was simply floored. The vibrancy of her photos are what originally attracted me, and are still the most striking part of the photos, and the drawings are just creepy enough to keep a high-schooler such as myself interested. But when I picked up this book, the meaning behind the photos becomes clearer. Gaskell has created several photo essays with not only incredible tone, lighting, and subjects, but she also has a fine theory behind her pictures: of being uncomfortable with an adolescent body, the pressure of pre-teens, and the weirdier sides of Alice In Wonderland.

I'll admit I haven't had very long to think about why I like Gaskell's work so much - I just got home from the exhibit - but I highly recommend her, not just aesthetically but for the thoughts behind them.

Rating:
Summary: My New Favorite Photographer
Review: Anna Gaskell recently put up an exhibition in my school's art gallery, and I was simply floored. The vibrancy of her photos are what originally attracted me, and are still the most striking part of the photos, and the drawings are just creepy enough to keep a high-schooler such as myself interested. But when I picked up this book, the meaning behind the photos becomes clearer. Gaskell has created several photo essays with not only incredible tone, lighting, and subjects, but she also has a fine theory behind her pictures: of being uncomfortable with an adolescent body, the pressure of pre-teens, and the weirdier sides of Alice In Wonderland.

I'll admit I haven't had very long to think about why I like Gaskell's work so much - I just got home from the exhibit - but I highly recommend her, not just aesthetically but for the thoughts behind them.

Rating:
Summary: Rather boring, actually....
Review: Gaskell's work is rather boring and dreary. Riffing on earlier precedents (most notably Sherman, even if this is not "self portraiture" per se) Gaskell's tableaux reek of a rather vapid revisitation of staged scenario a la her Yale professor and one time boyfriend Gregory Crewdson (check out his book on amazon.com "Twilight," and you'll see exactly what I mean) combined with a weak attempt at some kind of feminized fairy tale world gone wrong. Technically, the work is adequate, but c'mon'. is this the best that art world photographers in their 30's have to offer? If so, it's going to be a long, dry spell, indeed.