Jo Ann Callis, from the series “Three Tiers,” 1994, cibachrome print, 40 x 30”.
From Callis' exhibition at Craig Krull Gallery.
Like a talented set designer, Jo Ann Callis organizes changes in the décor of her studio to support the staging of actors in her 'fabricated photographs.' With carefully selected coats of paint and the adept placement of lighting and props, Callis transforms models and ordinary household goods into the sensual, combining seductive beauty with biting wit. This modestly sized mid-career retrospective highlights Callis’ joy of the tactile, frequently infused with visual puns. Paired with Paul Outerbridge’sretrospective, Callis’ work spins the older photographer’s attraction to the female body on its head. “Woman Twirling” and “Performance,” (a work in which curtains part to reveal a woman precariously balanced in a handstand) address Callis’ feminist sensitivity and belief that “the outside world may be different from what one feels internally” (Ed Note--Callis also opened an exhibition of new work at Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, however it opened after our press time--Ed).
Published courtesy of ArtScene
