Thursday, January 11, 2007

Victor Skrebneski @ Winkleman / Plus Ultra

January 12, 2007 to February 10, 2007
Opening Reception: Friday, January 12, 6-8 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Winkleman / Plus Ultra Gallery is delighted to present "Athletes," a series of new work by legendary photographer Victor Skrebneski. Organized by Oksana Salamatina, this exhibition presents Skrebneski's large-scale black and white portraits of athletes who competed in the 2006 Gay Games Sports and Cultural Festival in Chicago.

Better known for his highly inventive fashion photography and strikingly reductive celebrity portraits, Skrebneski chose his subjects in this series to reflect diversity within gender, race, ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Still apparent throughout, of course, is Skrebneski's signature highlighting of the sculptural in the human form, but the frequent juxtaposition of more formal poses with action or illuminating close-ups reveals the contradictions within the personality of an athlete, at once both fiercely competitive and generously hopeful. Furthermore, in stark contrast to the often-demoralizing cultural war waging over gay rights in the U.S., Skrebneski's portraits exude an unabashedly optimistic spirit of strength, beauty, resolve, pride and pure joy.

Victor Skrebneski is considered one of the finest fashion, figural and portrait photographers of all time. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Nassau County Museum of Art in New York, the Oragne County Museum of Art in New Port Beach, CA, and numerous contemporary art galleries in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris.

For more information, please call 212-643-6152 or email info@winkleman.com.

Victor Skrebneski
Athletes

January 12 to February 10, 2007
Opening Reception: Friday, january 12, 6-8 pm


Winkleman / Plus Ultra Gallery
637 West 27th Street (Ground Floor)
New York, NY 10001
T: 212.643.3152
F: 212.643.2040
info@winkleman.com
www.winkleman.com

Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday, 11am to 6pm or by appointment.
Directions: C or E train to 23rd Street. Walk North to 27th Street. Plus Ultra is between 11th and 12th Avenues.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

why,ed why? i don't get this one at all.

1/11/2007 09:18:00 AM  
Blogger Edward_ said...

hmmm...perhaps seeing the show will answer your question better than I can in words, but Victor's work, more than other fashion photographers of his generation, has consistently been created with a committment to reinventing its POV, to staying "new". It took some time convincing him that a young contemporary gallery was the right venue for his work, but in explaining my POV on pluralism and what that really means in this day and age, he agreed to the exhibition. I suspect he's somewhat amused (and I certainly hope flattered) by my intentions here, but he's such a phenomenally generous and gracious artist, and besides, how often do I get to work with a legend?

Again, please see the show, and if you still have questions, I'll be happy to elaborate on why I think this is right for the gallery and my views on contemporary art.

1/11/2007 09:32:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Great collaboration! Well done, Ed. Can't wait to see the show.

1/11/2007 10:30:00 PM  
Blogger Edward_ said...

Mom? Is that you?

:-)

1/12/2007 08:00:00 AM  
Anonymous bambino said...

I think the show looks great

1/12/2007 08:40:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No I am not your mother, sorry. Just an art lover.

1/12/2007 11:27:00 AM  
Blogger Edward_ said...

thanks anonymous...

appreciate the feedback.

e_

1/12/2007 11:45:00 AM  
Anonymous Cedric Caspesyan said...

In Montreal, the Out Games were the big joke of the year. Huge deficit.

Though they did it at the same time at standard gay fest, which I've not heard any deficit from (I actually went, it was huge).

Sports VS Clubbing, what will you have?


Cedric Caspesyan
centiment@hotmail.com

1/16/2007 02:37:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home