Jean-Michel Reed (b. 1971)

The Burchfield Penney Art Center has exhibited J-M Reed’s work in the past, notably in Beyond/In Western New York 2010: Alternating Currents, which featured examples from his series Various Big Fires, Night Fires, and Real Estate. His work was acqured for the collection to reflect his contemporary, theoretical approach to photography and the ways in which his work critiques society, as well as the way he plays with the intersection of image and hidden, or imaginary, narrative.

Nancy Weekly wrote to J-M Reed to find out more about this photograph of a house, posing some questions: “I know in the past you have used found materials from the site as a source of titles. Here it appears that you are linking porn or sex ads with images of property to suggest to the viewer that the two are directly connected. Are you creating fictional associations? It reminds me of strategies used by Jean-Luc Godard in his films decades ago. Also, the images are out of focus, which is different than your work in the past. Are you re-photographing real estate ads in a similar way that Louise Lawler has worked? Do you have an artist’s statement about the series?” J-M responded with text that provides the context for this work, especially for anyone who might react to the provocative title: 

I have not really worked on a proper statement—although I'll attach this which I printed an edition of when I started this series (there are a few mid-process). The series is fictional and a bit tongue-in-cheek, I suppose, but these were both photos from online real estate ads and porn videos. My intent was not specifically to equate the two—but more to look at how images are a device and the same images can appear to have different meanings, but really have the same agenda. For pure pornography (I am vehemently opposed to the academic use of the word "porn" as I think it dilutes what porn is), part of the underlying agenda is to sell a way of life. Playboy was/is a "lifestyle" magazine, and pornography often works in the same way, [suggesting] that wealth, material excess, etc., can and does lead to young women lusting after you. So it is not really a criticism of real estate, other than it is also a tool or device to show off. What is interesting to me is that a house from a porn shoot with the actors removed, could be a real estate image from Trulia or whatever.

The distortion is just the blurriness from screen captures that I elected to leave essentially as-is as I think it helps convey the ambiguity of the image. I might have only done slight adjustments to make them more consistent, but nothing major other than removing people. I do have a real fascination with what images tell us about ourselves, and I think it is often not what we want. Hope this helps - J-M