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Larry Sultan
Katherine Avenue
HC, 28 x 27 cm.,132 pp.
Steidl 2010
"Katherine Avenue", released at the occasion of a retrospective at the Kestnergesellschaft (Hannover, Germany), collects three of Sultan?s series, ?Pictures from Home,? ?The Valley,? and ?Homeland:? Photographs of family, of large and generic houses used by the porn industry, and of day labourers/immigrants. Each series is gently - yes, that?s the right word here - introduced by the photographer, with just a few sentences that say so much, without taking anything away from the photography. In each case, the photography is stunningly masterful, showcasing the artist?s profound respect for the other, regardless of whether they were extremely reluctant parents, porn stars who had yet another photographer present, or day labourers hired by the artist for an image.
Retrospectives often suffer from the problem that a lot of the images are very nice, and then you have your one or two famous masterpieces. In this case things are somewhat different, because despite the presence of quite a few very well known masterpieces, there aren?t any obvious fillers: It?s one highlight after the other. It?s quite amazing.
The importance of ?Evidence? notwithstanding, "Katherine Avenue" contains the photography I will remember Larry Sultan for." (Jim Colberg)
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