My Friend from Memphis
photographs by Huger Foote
at the Sol Mednick Gallery at The University of the Arts

In my mind, the perfect real estate photograph wouldn’t be a visual record of what the house looks like. Appearances do matter, but in the end, a house is just another place to hide when the weather gets really iffy. I think though, that I would like to live in the house photographer Huger Foote (”hew-gar,” say it with me) currently resides. Of course, let’s just say I’ve have always been fascinated with the South (My happiest memories of US History in high school were spent with Shelby Foote, who is coincedentally the father of Huger). Its the rebel child of the United States. It’s always trying to break off from the rest of the country. Rather than trying to sever its ties with the nation by starting major wars, it chooses to isolate itself by customs. Maybe, its just those southern accents that throw us off.

Complex by composition and subject matter, these images do nothing to clear any of these mysteries up. It’s not hard to see these photographs kinship to another southern photographer, William Eggleston. In the case of “Untitled (p. 64),” not only are the reds are rich enough to devour, but they rival the reds of Eggleston’s dye transfer prints. Foote’s photographs keep their southern secrets silent but someday I’ll figure them out. Not by countless hours of intense critical research. Not by visiting every Civil War reenactment I can find. I think I’m just going to have to live there.

http://www.rosegallery.net/combo/pop_up/popup1.html
http://www.hamiltonsgallery.com/photographers/Huger%20Foote/hugerfoote.html

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2001 at 6:57 pm and is filed under general.