THROUGH JANUARY 27, 2008
Ads as art? We'll buy that. But the Photographic Resource Center (832 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.975.0600) goes one step further with "Ad | Agency," a collection of photo-based work that investigates consumerism by playing on the language of advertising and manipulating images of products, stores, print ads, and more. Kate Bingaman-Burt photographed two years of her personal purchases as part of her "Obsessive Consumption" project, while Dean Kessmann scanned images of plastic shopping bags for his series "Plastic on Paper." Hank Willis Thomas explores generalizations made by ads targeting African-Americans in "Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America 1968-2008," while Penelope Umbrico's work features catalog images of mirrors and books. Admission to the PRC is $3 for the general public; it's free on Thursdays and on the last weekend of every month. The PRC and the Ad Club also present a panel discussion, "Finding the New Creative: Convergences in Fine Art and Commercial Photography," on January 17. Visit www.prcboston.org for details.
[Written by Heather Bouzan and Melissa Cronin]
