Nikki McGuinnis at UWM's Union Gallery

Every now and then a piece of art reminds you of the exquisite beauty that resides in fragility. Such is the case with Milwaukee artist Nikki McGuinness' photographs in the soon-to-end "Intimacies" exhibit at UW-Milwaukee's Union Gallery.

The definition of intimacy McGuinness offers is one of saturation. Her subjects expand beyond their settings, reaching out to the viewer for sympathy, empathy or at least in search of witness to the mixed blessings of simple existence. In Sweetest Face the face of a toddler looms as large as the moon, his eyes brimming with the dewiness that precedes or follows tears. In Altruist a dog stares up at the viewer, every detail of its trusting visage picked out in the cold clear light.

In other photographs the tensions between mother and child, mother and spouse, mother and womanliness, sexuality, are deftly explored, and all washed in that cold and solemn light of early day that casts no shadows behind which the subjects can take cover. In Husband the torso of a man squirms slightly under the glare of the camera, taking partial cover beneath a towel whose vibrant hue draws attention to the subject's pale and puffy nudity. That Just About Sums it Up remains true to its name. The hunched form of a woman leaning over a sink rises from the leather-clad legs of a dominatrix whose ankle is encircled by the arms of a solemn little boy. Servitude, hostility, neglect anchored by the inviolable connection between mother and child.

In her statement McGuinness speaks of "bruised beauty," and this is the very quality her work summons: a solemn beauty that verges on the brink of collapse.