identity

Beyond/In Western NY. went to that on friday - well the venues in buffalo.
there were two artists that really struck me - and for very different reasons.
Wilka Roig. she was at CEPA. here is a diptychs from the series Traced:
so works with identity. and i guess for her placing herself in the same pose, in the same room, at almost the same time identifies herself with her subject !?! just because she is in a similar pose in the same place and made her image black and white - does that really talk about identity? i feel like the whole thing is false. maybe that is what she is trying to show. but i doubt it. either way it doesn't feel like she is pushing it in the direction that she is working. my advisors keep talking to me about 'intentionality' and i feel that that is what she is lacking. even her choice of costume. it doesn't say anything. this could be an outfit that she has in her closet. what if she were to wear their clothes? that could be interesting. and really 'trace' them . . . well, the one thing is did was push me to think about how she is addressing identity. and i realized that in some of the photographs with women, i thought that they might have been related to her - when only a couple actually seemed to be by the choice of titles. so, i started thinking about identifying facial characteristics. that is something that most people use to identify one from another. no divulging more just yet. i need to make something first.
oooooh. and the other: Simone Mantellassi.
unfortunately i couldn't find any images of his work online. a pity. you should go to the albright-knox and check it out though. an installation of tons of frames drawings and writings. most rather cartoonish, each smart and witty. some just beautiful to look at. i'm not quite sure why i was so attracted to his work - no i take that back I AM SURE, but i can't quite verbalize it just yet.