Sunday, September 14, 2008

Naked Baltimore Opens @ Metro Gallery

Is it just me, or does the Metro Gallery's "gallery" kind of suck? It is almost impossible to make a show look good in that space, Videopolis being an exception, but honestly, 'the bigger the better' seems to be the way to play it. That being said, Naked Baltimore, a show that fancies itself as being a little out of the ordinary, was mistakenly hung in a predictable, traditional style and at minuscule-almost sheepish-sizes. Uli Loskot and Jefferson Jackson Steele presented their photographs of naked Baltimore-ians (though on closer inspection it appeared to be 15 of Baltimore's exhibitionists-and lord knows there are more out there- showing off their shit, over and over again) while accumulating willing, release-signing subjects throughout the evening.

By selecting numbers at random, gallery-goers-turned-artists'-models were taken into a private room in the back to have their naked pictures taken, each emerging with a souvenir print. Hopefully, these additional photographs will help them to fill out future exhibitions, as many of the photos were repeated. Honestly, in this city, is it really that hard to find people who are willing to take off their clothes? Perhaps 'less is more,' as well as 'the bigger the better,' especially when it comes to photography, a little editing would have gone a long way.



Unfortunately, events like this take all kinds...if you don't like weird dudes coming up to you and starting conversations by asking "are you one of the subjects?" and then encouraging you to consider it in the future-this is not the exhibition for you (I suggest the buddy-system for creep-avoidance). But all in all, it was a fun event, and hopefully a tradition that will continue and improve.


Check out your friends, neighbors and familiar faces (now bodies) on view at the Metro Gallery, 1700 N Charles St