Modesty Exhibition, Weiss Berlin, 2016

Weiss Berlin presents Modesty, Buck Ellison’s first solo exhibition in Berlin. A velvety leaved cabbage, soft skin, reflective car finish: in Ellison’s photographs, smooth surfaces appear in all sorts of different modes. The portraits of plants, shot in organic gardens of Californian private schools, may come off as idyllic, but at the same time they appear overly sterile. The same, almost disturbingly artificial character also inhabits the representations of people, casting doubt on the authenticity of poses and groupings that look a little too normal.