Miles Coolidge

Casey M. Kaplan
580 Broadway, NYC
Thru March 16th

Three sets of suburban garages selected by the artist and photographed in situ. Divided into triptychs, each large panel is devoted to one wall of the garage interior. A lighthanded and insightful commentary on consumerism, memory , organization and domesticity, Coolidge's photographs have the critical nuance of a contemporary Edward Weston. Check out the two smaller photos in Kaplan's office of a real life miniature town created to teach school children all about safety. The underscaled corporate sponsored simulacra even has a tiny strip mall and miniature boarded-up ghetto.

-John Connelly

Email: ThingReviews

Hey John, it's me, Patrick's friend Bill. I figured I'd post a response, so that you don't feel as if no one reads this stuff. I really enjoyed Coolidge's show at Casey's space. What I liked most about the photos is the discourse they open on masculine spaces and how those spaces, depending on what they are filled with, define what kind of "man" you are perceived as. One photo is conspicuously filled with items that lend themselves to readings of a sporty, stylish, expensive nature. This same garage owner was so conscious (or unconscious...) of this fact that, halfway through Coolidge's shoot, asked to pull the dustcover off his snowmobile, resulting in a triptych which has one panel with it and one without. This garage is pristine and white, allowing for a quick and easy read of all the logos and brand names that abound there. The other garage is a congregation of a larger quantity of items, and yet they are not fetishized. This fascination with owning things, and displaying them seems uniquely male to me, and that's what I found so apparent here in this show. I wonder if Coolidge were to take his concept into kitchens, jewelry boxes, or beaudoirs, spaces typically defined as feminine, would we be able to read the same things?

Hi Casey! Nice to see you on the Net here in Denver.

I say " YES "