Brooklyn, NY
Micheal Duva
16 October 2005 15:45 PM
A commercial photographer working presumably with an array of digital tools, Michael Duva’s untitled postcard of a dodgy-looking topless guy fits squarely into the current trend for suspended cinematic narrative. Standing under a starry sky outside a banal, fluorescent-lit suburban house or motel, Mr. Suspicious pauses and looks back over his shoulder; we know not at what, but we can spin a whole series of tales imagining. Specific episodes from “The Sopranos” come easily to mind, among other pop media references. As with other artists working in this idiom, Gregory Crewdson king of them all, the narrative effectiveness of the image depends heavily on what associations the viewer brings to it.
—Lori Waxman