Rodney Graham at Donald Young Gallery

The man in the camera shop is Rodney Graham. So are the sous chef sitting under a tree, the hermit leaping in his backyard and the dapper gentleman transfixed by old newspapers in The Avid Reader 1949 (pictured).

Superficially, Graham’s new large-scale photographs mounted on light boxes resemble those of fellow Vancouver School member Jeff Wall. But unlike Wall, Graham draws on his own memories more than art history, and he inserts his own well-disguised figure into every colorful image.

Donald Young Gallery exhibits two of Graham’s light-box photos in its former location at 933 West Washington Boulevard. The high-ceilinged, dark, empty space offers a dramatic backdrop to The Avid Reader 1949 and Leaping Hermit, triptychs that are more than 18 feet long and tall enough for viewers to feel as though they could step into the glowing scenes. At the main Michigan Avenue gallery, the Canadian artist reappears in Betula Pendula ‘Fastigiata’ (Sous Chef on Smoke Break), so perfectly costumed as a sous chef we can see the food stains on his uniform. Small Basement Camera Shop circa 1937 re-creates a snapshot the artist found at an antique store. (The artist’s book To the Tattooist and related drawings are also on view.)

Graham achieves an impressive degree of verisimilitude in his photos but calls attention to his artifice. The camera shop, where he stands behind the counter in a cardigan and bow tie, is full of vintage cameras and film, but its walls don’t meet the ceiling, exposing the space as a set. Because the meanings of his work are so personal or obscure, viewers have little to engage except Graham’s technical skills as an artist and performer. It’s almost enough.