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Alida Fish at Schmidt Dean Gallery
Sideshow of the mind:
An old idea revisited
ANDREW MANGRAVITE
In simpler times, people thought it worthwhile to look at and examine things that didn’t ordinarily come to hand. Biological specimens, strange rock formations, battered objects from antiquity—all would draw a crowd. At the high end of the business, this practice gave rise to great museums. At the low end, it spawned the sideshow. I suppose the difference would be that the dinosaur bones in the natural history museum were genuine, whereas “the human mermaid” on view at the sideshow was not. Nevertheless, people still enjoyed looking (or gawking, as the case may be) at the curiosities on display.
Kewpie dolls, puffer fish, articulated wooden hands all find a place in Alida Fish’s sideshow of the mind. She takes objects and natural specimens and preserves their mysterious allure in a series of softly glowing sepia-toned tintypes. As with the sideshows of old, whose professed intent was educational, Fish recognizes that people like looking at strange things. The loving treatment she affords them suggests strongly that she finds them beautiful and worthy of preservation as art.
For my part, I enjoy any show that causes the viewer to see the world through new eyes. Whether Fish is photographing a broken pieced of statuary, a chest brace or the delicate skeleton of a bird, she plays the time-honored role of barker, inviting us to look more closely and really see the marvels she wishes to display. Whether it’s worth the effort is a question that viewers must answer for themselves. For my part, I was charmed by Fish’s cabinet of curiosities.
An old idea revisited
ANDREW MANGRAVITE
In simpler times, people thought it worthwhile to look at and examine things that didn’t ordinarily come to hand. Biological specimens, strange rock formations, battered objects from antiquity—all would draw a crowd. At the high end of the business, this practice gave rise to great museums. At the low end, it spawned the sideshow. I suppose the difference would be that the dinosaur bones in the natural history museum were genuine, whereas “the human mermaid” on view at the sideshow was not. Nevertheless, people still enjoyed looking (or gawking, as the case may be) at the curiosities on display.
Kewpie dolls, puffer fish, articulated wooden hands all find a place in Alida Fish’s sideshow of the mind. She takes objects and natural specimens and preserves their mysterious allure in a series of softly glowing sepia-toned tintypes. As with the sideshows of old, whose professed intent was educational, Fish recognizes that people like looking at strange things. The loving treatment she affords them suggests strongly that she finds them beautiful and worthy of preservation as art.
For my part, I enjoy any show that causes the viewer to see the world through new eyes. Whether Fish is photographing a broken pieced of statuary, a chest brace or the delicate skeleton of a bird, she plays the time-honored role of barker, inviting us to look more closely and really see the marvels she wishes to display. Whether it’s worth the effort is a question that viewers must answer for themselves. For my part, I was charmed by Fish’s cabinet of curiosities.
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