Christopher Williams: R59C Keystone Shower Door — Chrome/Raindrop at David Zwirner

“I am not a photographer”, declared Christopher Williams at the very beginning of a press tour. “Off we go to an intriguing start—thought I—should I also confess that I am not a journalist?”
But he spoiled the moment by calling himself a conceptual artist.
And he is indeed.
All photos at this exhibition are lies. All photos at this exhibition are true. None of the subjects and objects are what they seem to be. All of them are truly what they seem to be. Confused? Good!
Camera is taking much more than a commercial photo wants you to see; with airbrushing or editing images, the advertisement industry sells you certain narratives by showing the unachievable perfection, the quintessential Platonic ideal. The ideal of Cleanliness, Family, Endurance, Professionalism, Cleanliness, Travel, Fun, and have I mentioned Cleanliness? We are obsessed with it, aren’t we?
Painstakingly recreating old ads, Christopher Williams has in a way equal relationships with all the subjects and objects at these photos with the viewer. Nothing is accidental, everything is staged. Nothing is random, everything is reconstructed. You aren’t looking at some lucky snaps taken at the streets, all the characters are professional models. Yes, even the mop.
But they are sincerely what they are, none of them are telling a selling story, all the photos are now. They are even more here and now if you pay attention to the relations between them.
After all, the exhibition is also art.

Exhibition period: 20.01—18.02
Gallery address: 5-6/F, H Queen’s, Central