Like-V.Berries: LUKE SMALLEY / SUNDAY DRIVE ... A MEMORIAL EXHIBITION

November 19, 2009

LUKE SMALLEY / SUNDAY DRIVE ... A MEMORIAL EXHIBITION

If you are in new York or will be visiting NYC before December 12, we highly recommend that you pay a visit to the Clampart gallery that is hosting Luke Smalley's 'Sunday Drive ... A Memorial Exhibition'

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SUNDAY DRIVE, is Luke Smalley final and prehaps most impressive body of work. It is a highly narrative series which tells the story of 3 women on their way to a state prison to visit their incarcerated boyfriends. The second half of Sunday Drive consist of photographs of the attractive young men killing time in the slammer waiting for their sweethearts to arrive.

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Sunday Drive, the book, will be published by Twin Palms.

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EXERCISE AT HOME, Smalley's second major body of work. Shot in and around the tiny Pennsylvania town Smalley called home, the artist revisits themes of adolescent growing pains acted out under the guise of earnest athleticism. Teenagers compete in simple yet strange competitions meant to establish their standing amongst one another. Two youths practice boating safety procedures on a small craft that happens to be indoors. Another pair have a psychological game of tug war. And yet other boys pratice swimming stroke on a gymnasium floor. As with his previous series, Smalley painstakingly coordinated the creation of the work to the extend of often constructing his own athletic equipment, props, and costumes.

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GYMNASIUM, the teenage atheltes in this series seem inhabitants of some time or place other than the northwestern Pennsylvania towns where the artist found and photgraph them. The sensuality of these young men seem familiar, their gaze immediate and direct, yet their otherworldly quality remains a product of Smalley's unique vision. no telephone or television seems possible in this peculiar landscape. Gymnasium is the product of ten years worth of work.

More photos from Gymnasium AFTER THE JUMP.