In Time

“I do not know which to prefer’
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendos,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after”
~Wallace Stevens, from Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

by Elin Spring

The slippery concept of time is an obsession that Covid-19 has kept top of mind throughout the highs and lows of the past year. Although I have long since stopped asking “what day is it?” out loud, it is still the question that greets me each morning. I no longer consider an avalanche of long days, short weeks, hyper-speed and standstill to be an oddity. Reflecting the myriad ways we’ve come to experience time, Gallery Kayafas presents a diverse consideration of our unerring partner, on view through March 13^th, 2021.

“Eden (age 5), 2011” from the series Thirteen Ways, by Robert Knight, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

Inspired by Wallace Stevens’ poem of the same name, Robert Knight’s Thirteen Ways follows a self-admitted obsession with his daughter Eden over roughly the same number of years, as she develops from a toddler into a young woman. To the extent that every portrait is a self-portrait, Knight’s work is also a dialog, a deep dive into a precious relationship. We are invited into this private rite of passage through lush, large-format photographs. Stylistically, they share a rich palette, multiplicity of perspectives, and mindfully chosen gestures and objects as signifiers of his daughter’s experience.

“Secret Pond, 2013” from the series Thirteen Ways, by Robert Knight, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

The immersive scale of Knight’s portraits and the salon-style installation confer a sense of intimacy. But in balance, his sharp focus and frequently frontal viewpoint lend an air of documentary objectivity to Knight’s privileged access. That delicate poise, as evident as Eden’s arabesques, allow us to extend the specificity of his daughter’s childhood into a shared journey toward adulthood.

“Toy Soldier, 2019” from the series Thirteen Ways, by Robert Knight, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

“Enzo and Eden, 2020” from the series Thirteen Ways, by Robert Knight, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

“Dizzy Gillespie, Hunter College, NYC, 1959 (printed 1995)” by Herb Snitzer, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

“Odetta Live at the WGBH Station, Boston, MA 1990/1995” by Herb Snitzer, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

In Such Sweet Thunder, Herb Snitzer snaps the frenetic pulse and pensive interludes of storied jazz artists in the period from the late 1950’s through 1990. High contrast, low key B&W gelatin silver prints convey the inky tone of nightclubs and their post-set reveries. Snitzer’s dexterous, gripping moments range from a fiercely focused Miles Davis to the grainy energy of Sonny Rollins in performance. His style is as fluent as it is mesmerizing, capturing the cadence of the jazz culture with an immediacy that elicits an unforgettable era.

“Sonny Rollins, Boston Globe Jazz Festival, 1990/1995” by Herb Snitzer, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

“Miles Davis, Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, Rhode Island, 1990/1995” by Herb Snitzer, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

“Strange Fruit, Untitled #1, June 12, 2020” by Nicole Buchanan, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

Held over in the Alcove, photographer Nicole Buchanan presents work from her series Strange Fruit, an aptly symbolic title referring to the jazz classic that is an unnerving euphemism for southern lynchings, famously performed by Billie Holliday. Buchanan documents Black Lives Matter protests following the ruthless murder of George Floyd in May, 2020. To her credit, she focuses on human symbols and signals, rather than on the ubiquitous lettered signs at these rallies. Buchanan’s portraits are lyrical, visually uniting a rainbow of flesh to suggest that skin tone is merely a variation on the theme of our collective humanity. Her images are an indelible sign of our mercurial cultural moment that, tragically, recalls unrest from another era.

“Strange Fruit, Untitled #5, June 14, 2020” by Nicole Buchanan, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

Installation view of Shadowtime Sculpture and Paintings by Audrey Goldstein, courtesy of Gallery Kayafas, Boston.

While in the gallery you cannot, nor should you, miss Audrey Goldstein’s Shadowtime, an engrossing installation of gathered discarded objects from an abandoned home, occupying a maze of constructed rooms that represent each passing hour of the day. As a tactile and sensory experience of passing and lost time, Goldstein highlights the isolation we have felt so intensely during the pandemic.

For more information on these exhibits, including special programs with the artists, go to: https://www.gallerykayafas.com/current

Feature Image: “Music (Light Leak), 2018” from the series Thirteen Ways, by Robert Knight, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.