Art & Exhibitions
Justine Kurland Portrays Our Kink for Cars
THE DAILY PIC: America's most dysfunctional love affair.
Blake Gopnik
Share This Article
This is “Heart Throb”, from the latest show by Justine Kurland at Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery in New York. The new body of work is (partly) about America’s so-called “love affair” with the car, which in Kurland’s hands becomes as complex a relationship as any real couple could have: There’s real affection, but also MADness (as in, Mutually Assured Destruction). In this photo, the couple have got to the point where they’re dressing the same, but the man’s embrace is also a taking apart. (Turn the picture sideways and they start slow dancing.) Kurland’s subjects have often been sentimental: Her love affair with her little tyke, for instance, and their Rootabaga Story adventures among the trains that made the West. But what’s crucial is that she treats her motifs without sentiment. (Courtesy the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NY)
For a full survey of past Daily Pics visit blakegopnik.com/archive.
Article topics
