Lori Newdick
Canadian, b. 1968

1 Lady Lipstick, 2001
2 Super Suspending Rogue, 2001
3 Bully, 2001
4 Classic No. 7, 2001
5 The Swedish Pimple, 2001
6 Floatin’ Foxee, 2001

Chromogenic prints, face-mounted on Plexiglas

 

In this series, Canadian artist Lori Newdick has photographed several of her grandfather’s fishing lures in extreme close-up against a light blue background. Typically, a fishing lure’s design is intended to be colorful and eye-catching in order to attract the fisherman or woman’s prey. Enlarged, the lures’ garish decorations and flirtatious charm are front and center, glossy sea creatures seducing not just fish, but also the consumer. With names like Floatin’ Foxee, Lady Lipstick, and Bully, each lure takes on a personality of its own, which is only enhanced by their unique embellishments.

Gifts of the Christian Keesee Collection, 2016

Visual Description: This is a series of six photographs of six individual fishing lures, shot in close-up against a gray-blue background. The photographs are approximately 1 1/2 feet tall and a foot wide and are arranged in two stacked rows of three photos. Moving from left to right in the top row, the first lure has an eggshell-colored body and a rounded cherry-red head. At the body’s base is a long fringe that is the same color as the body. The second lure has two major segments, both cherry red in color and spotted with black circles. Each segment has one set of triple hooks attached to it. The third lure has an elongated oval body with a triple hook hanging from it. The top of the lure’s body has a striped pattern, with a central black stripe flanked by two stark white stripes. The central black stripe splits right above the lure’s center into a wishbone shape, encompassing four cherry-red circles stacked vertically against a stark white background.

In the bottom row, the leftmost lure has an almond shape and a wavy, cherry-red stripe set against a stark white background. From the bottom of the lure hangs a triple hook. The middle lure has an oblong tear shape that is primarily black in color. At the top of the lure is an inverted almond shape that is canary yellow. At the bottom of the lure is a carnation-red inverted almond-shaped segment with a triple hook dangling next to it. The final lure consists of several segments. At the top of the lure is an undulating, organic form, its top half Kelly green with a small white circle with a cherry-red center, resembling an eye, and a stark white bottom half. Attached to this top segment is a black, teardrop-shaped disk with two stacks of cherry-red beads hanging beside it. Alongside the red beads is a fishing hook.