Ampersand is pleased to present Dear Martin, a small edition book and corresponding exhibition of photographs made by an unknown photographer in the late 1960s. At a glance the photographs document an anonymous man modeling an assortment of women’s bikini bottoms on a rooftop in an unknown city. A lack of captions, however, compels us to look more intently at each photograph in an effort to either identify with the man we are looking at or formulate a story of why and how he created these images. It’s likely he worked alone, making self-portraits, recording a static performance on a stage he knew completely. His work documents a relationship with the lines and contours of the building’s architecture as much as it does his roundish body with a collection of bikini briefs. Whether his intent or not, we become familiar with the details of this space, but never identify where exactly it is or how he could ever leave it, just as it’s unclear what sexual preference, if any, his chosen swimwear is intended to imply.

Dear Martin photographs are represented by Ampersand Gallery in partnership with artist Jason Brinkerhoff, who owns the collection.

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Untitled, 1968
Gelatin silver print photograph
5 x 3 1/2 in.
(DM_61)
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