REview of "humans Being"
Exhibit Information
Caroline Amicone's "Humans Being" exhibit was on display
at the Karpeles Manuscript Library from June to August 13, 2000.
Review of the Exhibit "Humans Being" June 8, 2000 Santa Barbara News Press - City Guide
"Humans being" is the perfect title for the exhibition of photographs
by Caroline Amicone upstairs in the Karpeles Manuscript Library and
Museum. The photographer notes that her scenes are unposed and
uncropped. So it is the artist's (or photojournalist's) eye that gives the
exhibit it's charm and cohesion.
...There in black and white, we see people as they are, from
mischievous children to an unglamorous woman putting on lipstick.
Most of the pictures include some sort of action, but much of it is
undramatic and because it seems ordinary, it is familiar and somehow
comforting in its personal resonance: been there, done that.
Men clap as a little girl dances; kids run across a shallow pool in a
park; a boy skateboards by a pile of garbage in the street; a sleeping
child is carried from a stadium.
Amicone's images are about the moment, sometimes a happening,
as capturing the scene of some cops with suspects up against a wall,
but more often just a facial expression. She catches a group of
Jewish boys dressed up and wearing yarmulkes, horsing around with
mischievous twinkles in their eyes. Kids at the zoo lean over the
fence to reach out to a monkey and the monkey reaches out to them.
A girl looks troubled as she is caught by the camera in an alley filled
with trucks.
Sometimes the moment is just serendipitous. A statue of Jesus is
flanked by a huge "SALE" sign. An old woman's face is centered in a
bustling group of children. A family looks totally bored standing in
front of a tacky looking snowman and a sign for L. Ron Hubbard's
Winter Wonderland. A few photos have a sense of mystery. A man
dressed like a pope is eating at an outside table with two men in
suits. A group of Andy Warhol look-alikes wear Marilyn Monroe
masks.
Occasionally, the camera assumes a point of view, as in the scene of
acrobatic skateboarders taken at an angle, as though the viewer is
flipping, too. Amicone approaches the human family with obvious
affection and a subtle sense of humor. This is a refreshingly unpretentious
exhibit, and reflects a great deal of skill.
— Reviewed by Joan Crowder, retired News-Press staff writer