ARTNET NEWS
By Sarah Cascone
LOUSIANA---To get a sense of
Joel-Peter Witkin as an artist, it’s essential to look at one of his most enduring images: In
The Kiss, taken in New Mexico in 1982, Witkin photographed two people locked in a kiss. But a closer look reveals that the two have one and the same face. While startling and gruesome, the image simultaneously takes on an otherworldly, almost graceful quality. That tension between death and life, beastliness and beauty is a trademark of Witkin’s work. Examples of a wide cross-section of his work are currently on view in “Joel-Peter Witkin: The World Is Not Enough,” an exhibition at
A Gallery for Fine Photography in New Orleans. [
link]
