For ‘Flash Art’ magazine Nan Goldin, Simon and Jessica, faces lit from behind, Paris 2000, Cibachrome, 76 x 100cm, Courtesy Matthew Marks
“Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me,” moaned Bjork as 245 slides of loving and lounging couples flashed by. Titled ‘Heartbeat,’ this slide show included many of the images displayed in the gallery and was the centerpoint of Nan Goldin’s fifth solo exhibition at Matthew Marks Gallery. The music, based on a Greek Orthodox mass, sung in Bjork’s raw voice, seemed like a cry from the heart, as natural and passionate as the lovemaking of Goldin’s friends.
As she ages, Goldin’s subjects remain young. Simon and Jessica, a sugary sweet young couple, who look and often pose like models, are the subject of a steamy shower scene. Clem and Jens star in a huge, nine panel sex scene. But couples with kids take over the show, with children often joining in post-coital cuddling. Goldin remains focused on documenting her adopted ‘family’ but in the year of her fiftieth birthday, she seems intent on reexamining the traditional, if somewhat updated, family unit.
Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education.
For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine.
Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)
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