Then and Now, 10 Years of Artists’ Residencies at the Center for Book Arts Castle Gallery at The College of New Rochelle 29 Castle Place New Rochelle, NY 10805 September8th-November 8th, 2015 The “Then and Now” art exhibit at the Castle Gallery, located at the College of New Rochelle, 29 Castle Place New Rochelle, NY 10805, features 60 artists who completed a residency at the Center for Book Arts in New York City. The exhibit displays work from each artist while they were residents, and work they completed later in their career, as they progressed in their creative practice of “book art.” The works comment on a plethora of themes, including socioeconomic, environmental, gender issues, immigration, political/ social reform and more. Each artist in the show took the opportunity to explore the meaning of “book,” and apply their own definitions to “book,” through their art. Diversity of work, artist and content is apparent while you walk through the gallery. Some forms of medium used to create these book arts include drawing, sculpture, painting, technology, and even performance. This variety of medium, including Karina Aguilera Skvirsky’s work, Los Pemas Que Declamba Mi Mamá (2014), and Hadassa Goldvicht’s work, Citrus (Secret Blessing), (2014) offers the viewer the idea that books are not restricted to their “traditional” rectangular, beginning, middle, end, and words criteria we typically apply to them. Perhaps the book is just an object that tells us a story, or an object that we read and “Then and Now” has demonstrated this. Aesthetically, there are some issues with the exhibit. The pieces do not seem to have enough space between them. There are too many works in the show which could have easily construed the same degree of diversity and margins of change with fewer artists. Thoughtful deliberation of pieces is difficult when the works are placed so closely together. It would take the viewer several visits in order to give each piece the consideration it deserves. The lack of negative space means a lack of focal point. The works blend, with the exception of a few works which invade your senses by auditory means, or physically invading the space you occupy. The works appear to require intimate interaction, as per the white gloves provided and the act of carefully flipping through pages. This intimacy is intimidating though, and with the stimulation of all the other works, the viewer can become dismayed at the idea of trying to concentrate on a sole, intimate, work. There are many good works of art in this show, which are worth viewing, but visitors must be wary; while visiting this show, the excessive materials and information that surrounds you may influence your viewing experience.
3 Comments
Anne Truitt in Japan Matthew Marks Gallery 523 West 24th St. New York, N.Y. 10011 September 11th. – October 24th, 2015 Anne Truitt The Anne Truitt in Japan exhibit is on display at the Matthew Marks Gallery on 523 West 24th Street New York, N.Y., 10011. The show started September 11th and will continue until October 24th. This is a solo exhibit featuring the works of Anne Truitt. The gallery contains two rooms, one large front room and one smaller backroom. As you enter the first of the two rooms, the large spacing between each piece and the varying dimensions of the works in frames is immediately evident. Each frame uses glass and has a thin white border. This type of frame is used for every piece throughout the show. All pieces displayed in the exhibition are works on paper. Truitt uses some form of painting or drawing medium for these works on paper, which depict simple forms and lines. The paper does not fill the space within the frame but is centered. Some works use techniques such as complementary colors to create optic vibrations, while others use congruent forms of equal value to create the illusion of melding forms. Within the drawing plane, every form and line is curiously placed in unexpected arrangements. This curious arrangement is then reflected by the unusual sizes of each work. Some pieces are ‘tall and thin’ while others are ‘short and wide.’ Precision appears to be important in execution and presentation to Truitt as demonstrated by the exhibition. The second and final room continues the use of varying dimensions and evenly spaced works, as seen in the front room. These pieces are clearly larger than those in the first room, paradoxically being in the smaller of the two. These works are, aesthetically, a simple continuation of the pieces viewed when first entering the gallery. Geometric shapes and angles play on the preconceptions of the viewer. Lines create patterns on the drawing plane, but only certain parts of the pattern are filled, with different colors, and sometimes only partially. This reinforces the “unexpected” motif one can surmise to be part of Truitt’s intent for this body of work; from the shapes and angles that do not follow our assumptions, to how they are placed. Every work in the show only uses linear and geometric content. Having these images on paper with such obvious frayed edges seems counterproductive in Truitt’s theme of precision in all aspects of her exhibit. Overall, Anne Truitt in Japan show can be seen as an exhibit that challenges the viewer to move through space in a visually attentive and detail-oriented state. Image 1
Truitt '66 [29] 1966 Acrylic on paper 11 x 27 1/2 inches; 28 x 70 cm Image 2 Rice-Paper Drawing [15] 1965 Ink on Japanese rice paper 12 1/4 x 9 inches; 31 x 23 cm Image 3 Truitt ’67 [6] 1967 Acrylic on paper 27 ½ x 41 inches; 70 x 104 cm Sarah Sze Tanya Bonakdar Gallery 521 West 21st Street. New York, NY 10011 September 10th-October 17th, 2015 Sarah Sze Sarah Sze has a solo show on display at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery located at 521 West 21st Street, New York, NY. The show started September 10th and will continue until October 17th. The gallery consists of two floors. Each floor has two rooms. Upon first entering Sarah Sze’s exhibit on the first floor of the Tanya Bonakdra Gallery, I was not entirely sure what I was entering an art exhibit. A variety of found objects were scattered within the space. The scene was aesthetically similar to that of a snapshot of workmen doing handiwork in the building. Very much a captured moment, while entering the room, one felt as though they may be intruding an environment exclusively for a worker. The deceptive nature of these objects does not end just there, but also in the fact that these found objects have not been randomly placed. Each element, when examined further, indicate that their placement was done with great consideration, purpose, and precision. Many elements in the space have been balanced in a fixed point of a potentially devastating situation. Some examples include falling, breaking or cracking. However, they never reaching this tipping point, such as the objects which hang precariously by delicate or thin wire, or material, they remain fixed as you move around them. These pieces have also been placed in space which we as the audience seem to be ‘invading,’ thus increasing the tension in the room. The exhibition continued onto two back rooms, both shrouded in darkness. The rooms contained desks centered, and in demand of attention. Similar to the workmen’s ‘captured moment,’ these rooms elicit feelings of intrusion. The space evokes imagery of a studious, isolated individual at work. These rooms also employ the theme of anticipation of disaster, but also completion, through the display of various items, and elements such as current time, place, date and other numerical countdowns (count-ups). Both rooms contain a rock split in half. One half sits on the desk while the other is suspended in the air right above. The anticipation for the ‘other shoe to drop’ or in this case, the ‘other rock to drop,’ makes the viewer aware that, although the place we are in now is somewhat stable and balanced, our individual worlds are easily shattered; potential can easily be turned into kinetic. Some elements on these desks are already shattered even. The countdown displays are projected onto fragmented pieces and foundations of boxes stand on top of one another in spite of the fact that they are without sides, functionally entropy. Through the use of her work and the entire gallery space, Sze's exhibit creates an interactive, aesthetic experience. |
Emily B. PosnerNew York based artist and editor. Archives
November 2016
Categories |