Darren Saravis's "Body/Text Project" at Composition Gallery fails on almost every front. The conceptually thin conceit of projecting texts onto the bodies of female models is the weakest excuse for turning women into passive objects since Vanessa Beecroft marched her stilettoed fembots into the Venice Biennale a decade ago. Although some of the projected texts are written by the models themselves, they are rendered unreadable and therefore serve as a mere prop to justify the act of making a nudie shot. The texts are an extraneous crutch that give the work the superficial whiff of conceptualism, but deliver no actual conceptual payoff. Simple nudes might have been boring, but at least they would have been sincere.


Alma #7428, 25" x 32", inkjet print

Saravis's work makes Jock Sturges look like a radical.


Maria #6464, 40" x 32", inkjet print

Some of these shortcomings might be forgiven if the images were technically proficient. Unfortunately, awkward poses, distracting shadows, and mediocre prints make this show one to pass over.