Opinion: Paul Ickovic Takes A Vacation
Paul Ickovic, a collateral descendant of Franz Kafka, is known to followers of photography as a chronicler of Eastern Europe's emergence after the collapse of Communism.
His moody black and white prints perfectly captured the vulnerability and sadness of the newly free Czechs, capturing their uneasiness while leavening it with a touch of laughter.
In his new series, "Between Men and Women," at the Nabi Gallery, Mr. Ickovic takes a vacation from Iron-Curtain angst to visit Western romance, capturing flirtatious glances, secret trysts, and enduring love in Manhattan cafes, on Mexican beaches, and in the back streets of Havana.
Incongruity By The Seine
You wonder how many discarded rolls of film, how many wasted shots it took to come up with these few dozen photographs. Was it sheer chance that he was on the banks of the Seine when that plain, grossly fat woman, wearing nothing but a large necklace and a tiny bikini, strolled by?
Or had he hung out there all day, ignoring strolling families, running children, and old geezers in suits, waiting for this one incongruous apparition?
She eyes the camera with suspicion - we look back in amazement.
As good street photographs do, these evoke an emotional response while allowing the viewer to write the narrative.
When it comes to love and sex - where the more we learn, the less we find we know - there can never be too many visual primers.
There's a wonderful shot of a couple eating in a diner. The elderly man leans to one side, absorbed in his newspaper. The woman, all tweed suit, pearl earrings, and well-lacquered hair, gazes off into the distance with a quizzical look. An army of ketchup, sugar, salt, pepper, and mustard bottles stands between them.
The mood is there - you make up the story.
In a Chinese restaurant in Boston, a young couple are gently embracing. The plates and chopsticks on the table, however, indicate they were originally sitting opposite one another.
Or there's an ugly beach in Malaga, still showing signs of trampling by the summer hordes but now completely empty except for an elderly couple in the foreground with their arms around each other.
Melancholy With An Edge
In another charming shot, a handsome, shirtless stud leans against a glass-covered billboard. He seems to be flirting with the photographer, but then you see the reflection of a pretty girl in the glass behind him.
Mr. Ickovic establishes place and atmosphere with great economy - the edge of a doorway, a crumbling arch, an iron lattice. Even when the pictures have an edge of amusement, there is a sense of bittersweet melancholy to them.
Gray skies and dimly lit interiors set the mood. The occasional flash of sunlight seems almost disrespectful.
Inevitably, Elliott Erwitt's book "Between the Sexes" springs to mind (and some of the pictures in this show seem to tip their hat to Erwitt's wry humor). But when it comes to love and sex - where the more we learn the less we find we know - there can never be too many visual primers.