Lonely Planet
Gallery-Going
http://www.nysun.com/article/70132 (http://www.nysun.com/article/70132)
By DAVID COHEN
January 24, 2008
There is a pervasive ambivalence in Katy Grannan's portraits: The gaze that returns the viewer's is a mix of coyness and exhibitionism. The images themselves oscillate between similar extremes, building a visceral sense of the present through precision while succumbing to a remoteness that results from theatricality. She has two shows up in New York right now, which, together with a show at San Francisco's Fraenkel Gallery, constitute a body of work she calls "The Westerns." This East Coast-born and -educated artist moved to the Bay Area several years ago, and "The Westerns" has a unifying theme in the particularity of Californian light, which, in her hands, is intense and dispassionate.
Her Salon 94 presentation features a pair of middle-aged transsexuals, Gail and Dale, while Greenberg Van Doren presents a single protagonist — a younger woman named Nicole, photographed in gutsy, flamboyant poses over an extended period of time.