Accidental Artists
While it takes a skilled and talented artist to create a masterful painting or sculpture, a photographer can shoot a terrific image simply by accident. Vernacular photographs — scrapbook pictures, photo-booth strips, press shots, and other images not intended as art —sometimes have artistic merit or convey something profound.
Vernacular Vixens, opening today at Robert Tat Gallery, features about 35 photographs of women and girls selected from the 11,000-plus-piece collection of Robert E. Jackson, a highly regarded collector who believes snapshots can be art. The exhibition substantiates this view, emphasizing the role that collectors such as Jackson have played in the establishing of vernacular photography as a genre. From an elderly woman holding a turtle to an acrobat seen in double exposure to a girl blowing a giant bubble, these subjects have stories to tell. The public can meet Jackson this evening at the exhibit’s opening reception.
— Anita Katz
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