Smoking Kids
WHAT: “Smoking Kids” (Photographic Exhibit)
WHEN: March 8 – May 4, 2013
WHERE: 300 W. Superior St.
HOST: Catherine Edelman Gallery
OUR RATING: Do It!
(edelmangallery.com)
Last week, Storefront City stopped by the opening for Belgian photographer Frieke Janssens’s photographic exhibit “Smoking Kids” at the Catherine Edelman Gallery on the Near North Side. Founded in 1987, the gallery highlights a variety of contemporary photographic techniques and artists both new and old.
“The Chimney”
(Frieke Janssens)
As the title suggests, this particular exhibition at the Catherine Edelman Gallery focuses on 15 photo-manipulated portrayals of children (ages four to nine) smoking, complete with advertisement-worthy period outfits and hairstyles from a variety of decades. Janssens was apparently inspired to create the photos after viewing a viral Youtube video of a chain-smoking Indonesian infant. Disturbing, and yet a fascinating cultural study.
“Pipe with Contempt”
(Frieke Janssens)
Adam: I find Janssens’s manipulated images amazing, captivating and actually highly appealing (you’ve just got to love controversy). Allowing us to look at smoking in an entirely different manner and context, I couldn’t help but think of the way children were really miniaturized adults, making me question the social controls placed upon them, how they are beneficial, and how adults constantly undermine their own efforts of protection.
“To the End”
(Frieke Janssens)
Beautifully executed photography that is composed digitally, no children were harmed in the making of these pictures. The pure lines and the blurring of adulthood and the innocence of the child surprisingly do not generate a repugnance, but a strange, literary aesthetic that captures the whole soul of a person.
Stunning and wonderful, Janssens’s work is to be highly recommended and, if you have $3000 to spare, you can pick up your very own Smoking Child portrait.
“Belga Girl”
(Frieke Janssens)
Alicia: Situated in the bottom level of 300 W. Superior St., the Catherine Edelman Gallery certainly packs a punch with multiple photographic exhibitions on display, and I am so thrilled to have been initiated through their doors by Janssens’s work.
I found my reactions to this exhibition somewhat surprising. In addition to being photographed beautifully, the smoking children are unsettlingly provocative and surreal, and really highlight the issue of the appeal of smoking both culturally and historically.
“Classic Red”
(Frieke Janssens)
I absolutely love Janssens’s reference to the golden age of cigarette culture and its ever-present role in a variety of cultures, but I must be honest that my real interest in this exhibition lies more so in its period-ranging aesthetics and the techniques used in setting up the portraits. For example, it was riveting to discover that the cigarettes were made of cheese and that the ‘tobacco’ smoke was generated instead by burning candles and incense!
“Ringlings”
(Frieke Janssens)
My favorite? Definitely “Ringlings.” But all the kids are superstars in these images.
Final Thoughts: This exhibit is definitely worth a trip to the CEG, and while you’re in the building we suggest you roam around and visit some of the other tenant galleries. A really fun space!