Review by Joanne Hinkel

"ANNE DAEMS: Parsley and Pearls" at Nicole Klagsburn Gallery, New York, NY

Ahh, to be young and beautiful in New York City. Is there anything more divine?

Whereas Nan Goldin captures the gritty, dark underground of New York's young and beautiful, Anne Daems focuses brightly on fresh-faced girls and boys as they glide unaware across the Manhattan streetscape. As the success of Gossip Girl, pricey designer boutiques on the LES, and last year's death of CBGB all attest -- it is this young, beautiful, and decidedly RICH Manhattan that has beat out Goldin's version.

Daems, from Belgium, took these photographs while in a residency here in New York in '05. The several photos on view are from the series 72 girls (and some boys) that could be models (available in book form on Amazon). Capturing the boys and girls as they are en route and unaware they are being followed/watched/photographed -- we don't see faces really, more backs, side profiles, flowing hair, and impatient postures -- she immortalizes a fleeting, unmemorable moment as memorable. There is a rich legacy of voyeuristic photography in New York of course, which starts with Evans and will probably never end. My Googling the topic "subway photographs New York" brought me to this very cool website: here.

Daems' interest in examining that which goes unnoticed carries over to the color-test scribble drawings that have been reworked as large-scale prints. These, shown in conjunction with her photographs, are a strong contrast -- in their sparse quietness, full of blank space, and intermittent color scribbles -- to the could-be models that give the city a quicker heartbeat.