Homeward bound: in New York, artists’ musings on domestic dwellings take a dark turn

Untitled #38 from the series Hardly More Than Ever, 2010, by Laura Letinsky. © The artist. Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York

(Image credit: TBC)

A cell on death row. A tattered, torn tent in a desert. The hollow of a tree. A shed with a tin roof. A colonial villa in Havana. A modernist, glass-encased apartment in the Hollywood Hills. A shoe-box on Main Street. The back of a van. What do these places have in common?

They are all places someone calls home. They are also all depicted by 19 artists, mostly photographic, at New York gallery Yancey Richardson, ‘Notions of Home’, where they sit in stark juxtaposition. Exploring the architectural, conceptual, historical, socio-political and aesthetic aspects of ‘home’ around the world, (via artists such as John Baldessari, Mark Ruwedel, Jitka Hanzlova and Larry Sultan) the works are united mostly by their lack of homeliness in the traditional sense: there’s nothing cosy about these dwellings.

*Vivid Entertainment #2, 2003, by Larry Sultan. © The artist. Courtesy of the Estate of Larry Sultan, and Casemore Kirkeby*

Though taken for different purposes, seen side by side, and mostly uninhabited, the political overtures are obvious. But what rattles the viewer on a subliminal level is the progression from the late 20th century towards a less stable (both physically, and psychologically) notion of home today, not only for the refugee or the migrant, but for anyone, anywhere. In fact, the most comforting image in the exhibition might be Amy Elkins’ twee illustration of a prisoners’ cell on death row – his home of 13 years.

The oldest works in the show is a pair of prints by American architectural photographer, Julius Shulman, from 1960, one of them his iconic Case Study #22, of Pierre Koenig’s Stahl House, two elegantly dressed women perched in a glass box overlooking Los Angeles. The photograph was the epitome of aspirational photography, a new era of showing off and luxury living. Looking at them now, they look too constructed, too fake to be a ‘real home’.

In sharp contrast, fast forward 55 years and you get Ruwedel’s dystopian black and white vision of Californian in Pacific Palisades, a blank exterior where a sign that emphatically asserts ‘HOME’, has the opposite affect, the blank expression of suburban sameness.

What ‘Notions of Home’ gives us are the structures, furniture and décor that are referred to as homes, but of course, what really makes a home a home is something far less tangible – and more troubling.

*Landscapes for the Homeless #14*, 1990, by Anthony Hernandez. *© The artist. Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York*

Girl Writing an Affidavit, 1997 — *Girl Writing an Affidavit*, 1997, by Tom Hunter. *© The artist. Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York*

*Casa Veraniega, Galeria, Havana*, 1998, by Andrew Moore. © The artist. Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York

*Case Study House #22*, 1960, by Julius Shulman. *© The artist. Courtesy of the J Paul Getty Trust*

Kuhmo, 1994 — *Kuhmo*, 1994, by Esko Männikkö. *© The artist. Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York*

Bicentennial Rug, Dad&rsquo;s Room, Media, PA — *Bicentennial Rug, Dad’s Room, Media, PA*, 2005, by Lisa Kereszi. *© The artist. Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York*

*Apartment 304, 398 Main St.*, 2001, by Mitch Epstein. *© The artist. Courtesy of Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York*

The Ancestor, 2001 — *The Ancestor*, 2001, by Tina Barney. *© The artist. Courtesy of Paul Kasmin, New York*

INFORMATION

‘Notions of Home’ is on view until 25 August. For more information, visit the Yancey Richardson website

ADDRESS

Yancey Richardson
525 West 22nd Street
New York

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Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.