{"id":2696,"date":"2015-04-06T10:10:20","date_gmt":"2015-04-06T15:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/~reviewing\/?page_id=2696"},"modified":"2015-04-06T10:10:57","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T15:10:57","slug":"golen-gallery-images-make-you-look-twice","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/?page_id=2696","title":{"rendered":"Stoecker images make you look twice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted April 6, 2015<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By ALEXANDRA KLUMPP<\/p>\n

When someone told me there was a photography collection at the Harold Golen Gallery in Wynwood that hadn\u2019t been seen in more than 36 years, I had to look.<\/p>\n

Photographs that portray or mimic history are my favorite. And I was not disappointed with this collection.<\/p>\n

The photographer is Karl Stoecker, an American who produced the photos in 1972-74 in London.<\/p>\n

My favorites are the photos of the women, which make up almost the entire collection.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re retro. They\u2019re dramatic. They have this over-the-top-drag-queen style.<\/p>\n

The images are on sale. You probably wouldn\u2019t put one of these photographs in your home with your family. But it would make a great conversation starter in your chic LA or NYC apartment while you\u2019re young.<\/p>\n

Stoecker has saturated the colors making the photographs and the subjects bold. These photographs definitely make a statement\u00a0\u2013 to say the least.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one photograph, part of the \u201cGala Pinup\u201d section of the collection, that portrays a woman in what looks like a red and white flamenco dress, holding a white flower in her hand as she smells it. The background is black but you can tell she\u2019s lying down, or she could look like she\u2019s floating too. The red is extremely enhanced. The contrast in the colors \u2013 white, red and black \u2013 add drama to a relatively unoriginal photographic pose.<\/p>\n

My absolute favorite photograph is the \u201cSparks Kimono My House Cover Album (Green).\u201d This depicts two Asian women in kimonos, standing and smoking cigarettes. Their hair is in messy buns and they look relaxed. The background is an intense, bright yellow. Your eyes go straight to look at the background first, but the color of the kimonos \u2013 one is white with orange and blue and the other is a bright aqua\u00a0\u2013 bring your eyes to the forefront to look at the subjects.<\/p>\n

Even with the dramatic coloring and the uncommon subject, there\u2019s realness in this photo.<\/p>\n

There are only two black and white photographs of the twenty photos in the collection. The first I saw is of a woman posing in front of a \u201cHard Rock\u201d sign titled \u201cHard Rock #1.\u201d At first, this one seemed a little boring to me. But once you take a closer look you see in the reflection of the glass behind her that there are men looking at her, and she\u2019s posing for them.<\/p>\n

My favorite part about it is the outfit. So 1940s, from her hair to her heels.<\/p>\n

The next black and white one is titled \u201cHard Rock #2.\u201d It\u2019s a woman, leaning on a table looking down at a waitress who looks like she\u2019s taking her order down in a pad. The woman leaning on the table is wearing leather pants, has a lot of cleavage and is sipping a milkshake from a straw.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not entirely sure if the photographs have any other purpose except aesthetics. They aren\u2019t deep, meaningful photos. But they\u2019re interesting and although retro women and saturated photos like those of Andy Warhol have been done before, Stoecker manages to be original. And he\u2019s provocative.<\/p>\n

Part of the collection is a series called \u201cThe Allan Jones Series.\u201d Again, saturated and intense colors. But these are only the bodies of the women from hip down.<\/p>\n

One photograph has a woman posing with one leg bent in front of the other. The color is pink. She has a bright pink skirt and red shoes. But the red blends in with the pink and red that he\u2019s brought out of the color of her legs. The background is a shade of dark pink going into a lighter pink. Lots of pink, which could sound overwhelming but works well because it\u2019s only 17 inches x 22 inches. It stands out.<\/p>\n

The photographs of the men are my least favorite because they aren\u2019t anything special. One photograph, titled \u201cBrian Eno #1,\u201d has musician Brian Eno posing with a guitar in a typical rock star outfit\u00a0\u2013 black and shiny. It\u2019s just not unique and I wouldn\u2019t look at it twice. I would think I\u2019d have already seen it.<\/p>\n

I was intrigued when I heard \u201chistory\u201d in his collection and I was captured by his style \u2013 a common subject with uncommon colors. The colors are so saturated the subjects almost look graphic or cartoon.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s dramatic and over-the-top in the best way.<\/p>\n