Being Like

I went to Yancy Richardson today to see David Hilliard's show 'Being Like.' I love David Hilliard, however, I must say that I was a bit disappointed with this show. First off, I think Yancy is a great space but there are never enough images to satisfy my want to see and Hilliard's work being large takes up a lot of real estate. In total there were only about 7 or so images. That being said they were all new images that I had not seen before and I found that very enjoyable.

The work kept with Hilliard's exploration of what is considered masculine, but I felt while all of the image were beautiful and done in his signature style, some had a more contrived feeling that I am not used to seeing in Hilliard's work.

Bleeder

This image, Bleeder is just such an example. While I like the image and I think it does raise questions about what a adolescent boy might struggle with when faced with conflicting ideas of masculinity, it lacked that subtlety of some Hilliard's earlier images.

Boys Tethered

The show didn't totally have this feeling of over contrived images. Boys Tethered and Letting go of the Day had that feeling of Hilliard walking in on a moment that his earlier images of his father have. While I will say that Boys Tethered is contrived, it to me doesn't have the same push over the top as Bleeder does.

Letting go of the Day

What I did noticed about the work is Hilliard has really expanded his pallet since his book in 2005. While many of those images were of young boys and men, these images had children and in once case Of a Certain Temperance a heterosexual couple in a sexual situation.

Of a Certain Temperance

And he is expanding his format. One image, Ransom Turned Around, was in the for of a cross, not the typical panoramic 3 frame format Hilliard is know for.

In all I did really enjoy the show, it was a great opportunity to see one of my favorite artist's work up close and personal. To see how someone chooses to mount and frame their images is always interesting. I look forward to seeing more new work from Hilliard and do hope he comes out with another book. There are many great image on his website that I would like to see in print, since I can't see them all on a wall at once.