Stutter Shutter

Whitney Hubbs

January 27, 2018 – March 3, 2018

Opening reception: Saturday, January 27, 6-8pm

Overview Works Installation Views

Casemore Kirkeby is pleased to announce Stutter Shutter, a solo exhibition of 13 photographs by Whitney Hubbs.

Stutter Shutter presents photographs of theatrical constructions made using a variety of reflective metallic fabrics, tin foil, paper cut outs, and other everyday materials and objects. The materials in these works are folded, tucked, taped, pinned, and draped by the artist and then lit to dramatic effect. In some, the connection between the material and the interplay of light and shadow suggests makeshift, imperfect, and even humorous substitutes for the seamless backdrops traditionally employed in studio photography. These constructions simultaneously reference the backdrop or theatrical curtain as a functional object, while also serving as the subject of the photograph itself. In “Pretend Self Portrait #4,” for example, a paper material is thoroughly crumpled and creased, leaving lines suggestive of an ancient pictograph.

Several photographs reveal the presence of figural forms entangled in the materials, effects created using models and mannequins, as well as the presence of Ms. Hubbs herself. This play between real and pretend self-portraiture suggests a fantastical world where the artist can be swapped—or, in some instances, intermingled—with models and objects that function as her proxies. In “Pretend Self Portrait #3,” a dark fabric is draped and pinned over a torso mannequin, with broken egg shells placed randomly atop the fabric. As with many of these photographs, the result effectively erases the lines that separate subject from backdrop, and transform the mundane into mystery.

Whitney Hubbs (b. 1977, Los Angeles) received her MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles and BFA from the California College of the Arts. Recent solo exhibitions include Body Doubles at M+B Gallery and at the California Museum of Photography, Riverside; as well as a two-person exhibition at Situations Gallery in New York City and last Spring, Hesse Press published the artist’s monograph, Woman in Motion. She has also been included in a four-person exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum, as well as the following selected group exhibitions, les vases communicants at Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles; In the Cut at Gallery Luisotti, Los Angeles; and After Effect, at Ballroom Marfa, TX. Hubbs’ work is in the permanent collections of The Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, The California Museum of Photography at the University of California, Riverside; and The Riot Grrrl Collection, Fales Library Special Collections, New York University, New York.