The stuff of family vacation provides the subject matter for these familiar but disquieting pictures. In Deep End, a coterie of swimmers at a motel pool gathers along the line of demarcation between shallow and deeper water, but the sheer number of swimmers and the somewhat blurred imagery make for an unsettling rather than recreational tone. An eerie sense of mystery is the predominant motif in both Screen, where a young boy stands precariously on a motel room chair as he gazes into a TV set, and Shallow End, where a clothed figure stands hesitantly in the shallow water leading into a motel pool. In Mann’s fantasy world, the promise of fun and recreation is constantly being thwarted by something that is never shown but always suggested.

Mark Mann first exhibited at Laurence Miller Gallery in 1996 with a show of paintings entitled 9 Rounds. Wish You Were Here is his second solo show and his first using the medium of photography. Born in Oklahoma in 1970, Mann lives and works in New York City.

Double Door, 2000
24 x 38" cibachrome
36 x 58" cibachrome

Median Family, 2000
22 x 27" cibachrome
34 x 40" cibachrome

Deep End, 2000 
27 x 39" cibachrome
40 x 58" cibachrome

Shallow End, 2001
16 x 23" cibachrome
24 x 34" cibachrome

Family Portrait, 2000
24 x 20" cibachrome
36 x 30" cibachrome

Screen, 2000
22 x 28" cibachrome
34 x 40" cibachrome