Cara Phillips

All images © Cara Phillips

Anyone who's been paying attention to the various blogs and show announcements will have noticed Cara Phillips' name popping up all over the place, and rightly so. What strikes me about many of the shots in her series Singular Beauty is how insular the spaces are, particularly the ones featuring examining chairs. I find that she's turned the concept of "the gaze" in on itself, in the sense that the chair is empty yet I as the viewer feel like the doctor staring at a patient, and then conversely I squirm in my seat as if I'm about to sit in that chair and be scrutinized. There is a certain unnerving claustrophobia--in some of the images I even feel like I'm viewing the interior of a space ship in some futuristic, frightening world. Her Ultraviolet Beauties series also hits on this otherworldly quality, making for a nice complement to Singular Beauty.

And speaking of Ultraviolet beauties, you can be part of Cara's project by getting your own UV portrait made. She'll be shooting this Friday and Saturday, October 24th and 25th from 10am to 5pm, at 14th St & 9th Ave, across from the Apple store. If James and I can wrangle the girls we'll try to head in and have Edie and June's pictures taken, I think it would be really uncanny to see a child in the UV light.

Also of note is the Blurb Photography Book Now meet-up which is happening tomorrow (Wednesday, October 22) from from 6:30 to 8:30pm at The New Museum, 235 Bowery. Cara's book Singular Beauty won 1st runner up in the Themed Category and will be shown along with all of the other winners. Register to attend here, tickets are free.

I wish I could go to the Blurb event but I'm planning on heading over to Amy Elkins' solo show at Yancey Richardson the next night (Thursday the 23rd from 6-8pm, at 535 West 22nd Street) and you know me and going out two nights in a row, it just doesn't happen...But I'm really looking forward to seeing Amy's work in person and getting into the city on a weeknight.