Oeuvre and Above

Duane Michals' Equality Forum exhibit transcends boundaries, pushes limits.

by Robin Rice

	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Apr 22, 2008

The Poet Decorates His Muse with Verse, Duane Michals, 2004 (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

"I'm much more subversive than Robert Mapplethorpe," insists world-renowned photographer Duane Michals. Typically Michals, whose verbal utterance and photo captions can be as poetic and provocative as his pictures, finds meaning and richness within the ordinary. And that quotidian context for him includes "a legitimacy of affection between people of the same gender." He deplores the likelihood that Mapplethorpe's histrionic fascination with bondage and S&M encouraged an "us and them" mentality that worked against understanding and acceptance.

Michals' current Philadelphia show, "The Facts of Life," in the photography galleries in the University of the Arts' Terra Building, is unique in his 40-year career. Some of his best-known photographs are included, as well as almost 30 books on subjects careening from spirituality and life after death (he's an atheist) to quantum physics. But not one book is devoted specifically to homosexuality.

The occasion for this retrospective is the 2008 meeting of the Equality Forum (April 28 through May 4), the largest international LGBTQ civil rights forum in the nation. A nonprofit headquartered in Philadelphia, the Equality Forum always addresses significant issues — this year including gay and lesbian life and identity in Muslim countries. "The Facts of Life," the ninth annual Forum art exhibit, was organized by UArts Photography Program coordinator and gallery curator Harris Fogel.

Michals publicly identified himself as gay in 1978 with a volume of photographs illustrating 10 poems by Constantine Cavafy. He recently published another book of Cavafy-inspired images, The Adventures of Constantine Cavafy (Twin Palms Publishers). In this show, The Poet Decorates His Muse with Verse (2004) is an unabashedly romantic and witty sequence of black-and-white pictures in which a handsome young man is garnished with sheets of poetry by a Cavafy surrogate, played by actor Joel Grey, who looks poetic enough and wears Cavafy-esque glasses but does not particularly resemble the Greek poet.

Michals often works in sequences. Each individual picture can stand on its own, but the group tells a story, often a parable of sorts that sometimes includes an extended caption. Michals contrasts his approach to that of towering modernist photographer/photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson. "When I came on the scene, The Decisive Moment (Cartier-Bresson's 1952 book) reigned supreme, but what I did with photographs included the moment before and the moment after." Also unlike Cartier-Bresson, who is best remembered for capturing the drama in unposed "street photography," Michals incorporates carefully deliberated surreal elements, sometimes reminiscent of the painter Magritte. And he generally arranges and poses his subjects.

"My attitudes have always been outside the definition of a traditional photographer. Photographers imagine that they photograph reality and what they photograph is appearances. The interior idea of reality — which deals with quantum, dreams and consciousness — these are never talked about in photography. The most important issues are invisible."

Michals' work typically presents more questions than answers. In the famous sequence Chance Meeting, two men pass each other in a narrow, empty street, glancing back but failing to make contact. I told Michals that I'd read somewhere that the series was based on the artist seeing an oddly familiar face, which he recalled too late belonged to a former Army buddy. Somewhere else I read that Chance Meeting depicted two men cruising each other. He laughed and said, "You see, either one could be correct. That's the point."

Michals is drawn to "questions without answers: Who am I? What is life? What is God? What is the universe?" But he can be crystal clear when it's warranted. Salvation shows two attractive young men, one dressed as a priest holding a crucifix to the head of the other as if it were a pistol. Michals' caption: "No American has the right to impose his private morality on any other American."

(r_rice@citypaper.net)

"Duane Michals: The Facts of Life," exhibit through May 5, artist-led exhibit tour, May 2, 2-3 p.m., free, Sol Mednick Gallery, UArts, 211 S. Broad St., 14th and 15th floors; lecture and book signing, Wed., April 30, 2 p.m., free, Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad St., 215-717-6300, equalityforum.com/2008.

All reader comments are subject to our Terms of Use. By clicking Post Comment, you acknowledge that you have reviewed and agree to these Terms.

Name	please enter your name
Email (will not be published)	please enter a valid email
Comment	please enter a comment
Enter the security code on the right in the textbox below.
Security Code	please enter the code
	Join the City Paper Mailing List

Full-Court Prestige
An Inexplicit Truth
Guises and Dolls
The Collaborators
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Fluid Hug-Hug
L'Egisto
Big Moves: The Big Top
Katsura Kan/Jack Wright
Prom