THE WORD ON THE STREET
"PHOTOGRAPHER MARK CHESTER'S SHARP EYE and mischievous sense of humor are the inspired pairing behind his new book, Twosomes (Un-Gyve). The unexpected juxtaposition of two images from different times and places produces a funny synergy.
In Twosomes, five trees wrapped in sheets of burlap that look like scarves (2008) face a photo of five women bundled up in a snowstorm (1983). In another spread (at right), a woman in Guatemala carrying baskets on her head (1977) is juxtaposed with a woman in New York wearing a flower bonnet shaped like a guitar (1971).
In her introduction, Julia Courtney, curator of art at the Springfield Museums, writes, 'Chester reveals his wit by pairing the works in such a way that we laugh out loud. It may take a few seconds for the viewer to find the treasured gem of humor in each image. Then it becomes a compelling exercise to determine what the photographer is up to, while examining the subject of each ‘twosome.’'
As Chester, who lives in Woods Hole, looked through thousands of his images from his 39-year career, he noticed similarities between shots as disparate as three gunslinging actors and a trio of Shriners. Each pair of photos, he writes, is “related by subject, a graphic element or by a stretch of the imagination.'
BOSTON GLOBE: BOOK REVIEW
Jan Gardner on Twosomes (Un-Gyve Press)
