Art, commerce intersect in two exhibits

By Mark Feeney, Globe Staff | December 12, 2007

Two related photography exhibitions - "Ad/Agency," which runs at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University through Jan. 27; and "Cornucopia: Documenting the Land of Plenty," which runs at the Montserrat College of Art Gallery through Feb. 2 - forthrightly, if not all that memorably, profess their opposition to people buying too much. The experience of viewing them is a bit like walking down a Whole Foods aisle and hearing people with carts piled high lambaste Wal-Mart.

The most intellectually arresting work here consists of three examples from Hank Willis Thomas's series "Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America 1968-2008." Thomas appropriates advertising images that target and/or include African-Americans. He then manipulates the images digitally to remove extrinsic elements - text, logos, and so on - to de-contextualize them. The results can be both revealing and a little unnerving. Advertising in a market economy strikes a blow for inclusion - if only in the pursuit of profit. The sole color that concerns advertisers is green, the only minorities excluded are those lacking disposable income. As Thomas shows, this can turn inside out (or not) the place of otherwise marginalized groups in society.

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