What is art without manipulation? What is advertising photography without seduction? A new group show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will prove that in these two worlds, the exchange flows both ways. Titled ‘Objects of Desire: Photography and the Language of Advertising’, the exhibition delves into how artists have borrowed the motifs and strategies of commercial photography and reimagined them for a fine art context.
By the mid-20th century, the world had left war-induced frugality behind. The consumer golden age had arrived, and with it, an advertising strategy built on the psychology of desire. As the emphasis shifted from ‘need’ to ‘want’, compelling visual advertising was at the heart of the game. By the 1970s, technological innovations were increasing the potential of photography; artists began to exploit the language of advertising for creative expression. They asked: what exactly do these images want from us?
Elad Lassry, Persian Cucumbers, Shuk Hakarmel, 2007, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by the Ralph M. Parsons Fund and Marc J. Lee, © Elad Lassry, digital image © Museum Associates/LACMA
‘Objects of Desire’ dives into this underexplored exchange between art, advertising and photography. ‘No other medium has such diversity in its application,’ exhibition curator Rebecca Morse explained in a statement. ‘The exhibition places commercial photography at its centre – examining where artists have imitated its look, appropriated its content, adopted its distribution methods, and generally exploited what has historically belonged to a strain of photography in the service of commerce.’
Although the majority of works are drawn from LACMA’s collection, with many notable pieces from the 1980s and 90s acquired when they were first created, the show also features recent acquisitions and contemporary works to highlight the ever-complex relationship between fine art and commercial photography. The show features photography, film, sculpture and multimedia work by artists including Robert Heinecken, Victoria Fu, Roe Ethridge, Lucas Blalock, Jo Ann Callis, Sarah Charlesworth, Elad Lassry and Hank Willis Thomas, alongside works on view beyond the museum walls, such as a billboard by Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel, and a mock advertisement by Chris Burden.
Hank Willis Thomas, Believe It, 2010. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. © Hank Willis Thomas. All rights reserved, digital image © Museum Associates/LACMA
Hank Willis Thomas, Believe It, 2010. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. © Hank Willis Thomas. All rights reserved, digital image © Museum Associates/LACMA
Image from Toiletpaper (December 2012), courtesy of the artists and LACMA Balch Art Research Library. © Toiletpaper magazine (Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari), photo courtesy of Toiletpaper
Lucas Blalock, Untitled (deck prism), 2009, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, © Lucas Blalock, digital image courtesy of the artist
Lucas Blalock, Untitled (deck prism), 2009, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, © Lucas Blalock, digital image courtesy of the artist
INFORMATION
'Objects of Desire: Photography and the Language of Advertising', 4 September - 18 December 2022, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). lacma.org
-
Philippe Weisbecker, on drawing the essence of things and his architectural world'Architectures', an exhibition of Philippe Weisbecker’s minimalist architectural drawings, opens at Galerie Yvon Lambert in Paris
-
This ‘anti-trend’ Wisconsin lake cabin is full of thrifted treasures – and you book a stayThis historic cabin on Lake Wandawega, preserved and restored by the team behind Camp Wandawega, embraces a salvage-driven approach that celebrates genuine history over polished style
-
Arthur Tress’ photographs taken in The Ramble are a key part of New York’s queer historyThe images, which captured gay men, like Tress himself, cruising around the Central Park woodland in 1969, are the subject of a new book
-
Arthur Tress’ photographs taken in The Ramble are a key part of New York’s queer history
The images, which captured gay men, like Tress himself, cruising around the Central Park woodland in 1969, are the subject of a new book
-
Robert Therrien's largest-ever museum show in Los Angeles is enduringly appealing'This is a Story' at The Broad unites 120 of Robert Therrien's sculptures, paintings and works on paper
-
Nadia Lee Cohen distils a distant American memory into an unflinching new photo book‘Holy Ohio’ documents the British photographer and filmmaker’s personal journey as she reconnects with distant family and her earliest American memories
-
Ed Ruscha’s foray into chocolate is sweet, smart and very AmericanArt and chocolate combine deliciously in ‘Made in California’, a project from the artist with andSons Chocolatiers
-
Jamel Shabazz’s photographs are a love letter to Prospect ParkIn a new book, ‘Prospect Park: Photographs of a Brooklyn Oasis, 1980 to 2025’, Jamel Shabazz discovers a warmer side of human nature
-
The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles launches the seventh iteration of its highly anticipated artist biennialOne of the gallery's flagship exhibitions, Made in LA showcases the breadth and depth of the city's contemporary art scene
-
Thomas Prior’s photography captures the uncanny fragility of American lifeA new book unites two decades of the photographer’s piercing, uneasy work
-
Central Park’s revitalised Delacorte Theater gears up for a new futureEnnead Architects helmed an ambitious renovation process that has given the New York City cultural landmark a vibrant and more accessible future
