Michael Weinstein

Nothing in Japanese or any other culture can top the "love hotel"--where couples rent rooms by the hour to act out their sexual fantasies--for its combination of childish kitsch and adult kinkiness. Misty Keasler's deadpan color documentary photographs of these dens of indulgence reveal the understanding of their interior designers that hardcore bondage and domination can be even more arousing for its devotees when they are surrounded by artifacts like carousels and giant dolls that place the chains, manacles and medical instruments in a context of prepubescent innocence. In the "Cake Room" at the Snowman's Hotel, a big red heart emblazoned with the words "Happy Snowman's Day" (in English) hangs on the wall just above two wooden boards formed in an "X" to which handcuffs have been attached, permitting the patron who is locked in the device to look down on a picture of a fork and three slices of pie.

Misty Keasler shows at The Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 South Michigan, (312)663-5554, through March 24. (2007-02-06)

Also by Michael Weinstein

Tip of the Week
Wilted flowers never looked so beguiling as they do in Kate Breakey's hand-colored black-and-white photographs of expired life that reveal the opulence of decay that has attracted visual artists since the genre of memento mori was initiated by Dutch painters in the sixteenth century
(2007-01-23)

Tip of the Week
Chicago celebrity portrait photographer Marc Hauser has staked his success on a signature style of sepia-toned black-and-white images--sometimes enhanced digitally--that present his subjects as though they are ghosts from the past
(2007-01-16)

Tip of the Week
Yet another contributor to the current surge of female performance photography, Ann Arden McDonald depicts herself in the buff in ruined and blasted environments where she disports herself in still dramas of confinement and elusive liberation
(2007-01-09)

Tip of the Week
Desiree Holman's conceit is to declare herself the wife and mother of three mannequins and then take the family on outings into the real world where she shoots herself in color performing the duties of her role, often in the company of ordinary flesh-and-blood people
(2007-01-02)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-22)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-12)

Art Break
(2006-12-05)

Tip of the Week
(2006-12-05)

Tip of the Week
(2006-11-28)

Tip of the Week
(2006-11-20)

Tip of the Week
(2006-11-14)

Tip of the Week
(2006-10-31)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment