You can't put your arms around a memory...

The beauty of decay,on a grand scale. Palaces gone to seed: marble chipped, statues de-headed, paint peeling. It's Havana, of course. The remnants of grandeur, grandeur reduced to penury; laundry hanging up to dry in an empty salon, a room populated by two exhausted club chairs and a gigantic, mute chandelier. What's it like to live in a dying house? These huge color prints (up to 60"x80") bring the viewer into the abodes of the former aristocracy. May their memories be as lush as the light is, here. Miss Havisham haunts this show. Havana, the pearl of the Carribean, is slowly being dipped in vinegar.

Michael Eastman "La Habana: Evanescent Grandeur"
www.clairoliver.com


A bunch of apes emoting. That's right, simians in front of the lens, many of them acting pros (are they union?). Individual portraits of facial expressions you're not likely to otherwise see. And they're hysterically funny. (Is that hilarity edged with nervousness?) Sometimes poignant. The monkey (okay, he's utterly adorable) in "Undecided" emits a tentative air, casting his large eyes to the side, tilting his head. "Mala Centerfold" is monkey cheesecake. Every hair is in place, every model flawlessly groomed. Most of the images have ben digitally "finished" to a plastic quality, which ends up looking horridly kitch. The pleistocene is plasticene. Most, but not all (see above). The prints are large, and the extremely matte surface adds to the eerie factor.

Jill Greenberg, "Monkey Portraits"
www.clampart.com