Prior to the gallery visit, I had been puzzling about how -- or whether -- to relate the somewhat sexual, though still geometric, forms I showed at the BA/BFA Open show to the cinderblocks I have been casting in semi-translucent, candy-colored resin. It occurred to me that dropping the color would let me let the forms interact, and I began rethinking the installation in terms of forms that spanned the spectrum from clear to white. I wondered, though, how clear or transparent forms would fare: Would they be invisible or close to it?
Serendipitously, I stumbled upon the David Kennedy Cutler show at the Derek Eller Gallery on Friday. Cutler manipulated 8' x 4' sheets of clear plexiglass with 2 heat guns and the twists, turns and tension of his own body. The result is a series of large, clear forms that suggest, faintly, the figure and yet also some kind of clear skin of vision. As noted in press release, when the forms are installed in the gallery context, " these 'invisible' sculptures present the paradox of emptying a space and filling it up." Because my interest in the forms I use is focused on the voids they present, the use of a clear material adds another dimension of "emptying" which I have to consider and, if I use it, activate as I develop my work.
The other serendipitous sculpture show I saw was Rebecca Warren's Feelings at Matthew Marks. Warren showed both overtly sexual forms as well as nearly pure abstract welded forms -- but for the occasional pom-pom she added here and there. Nearly all are large scale and made of either steel, bronze or unfired clay. The show is quite funny. As the press release notes, she often manages to both invoke and skewer familiar male artists like R. Crumb and de Kooning with her forms. For me, though, the show served as an example of what it might look like to display female sexual forms with abstract forms together. I'm not sure yet what I think. My feeling is that the success of the show rides more on her humour rather than the successful interaction of the forms. While humour is also an aspect of my work, I want my forms to interact well -- synergistically -- so this is something I'm keeping an eye on now.
Lastly, I spent over an hour at the Linda Christensen show at J. Cacciola Gallery. There were about a dozen gorgeous paintings the careened between figuration and abstraction. I am working with figuration and abstraction in my own painting, albeit in baby-steps. In front of her paintings, though, I felt I could see how to go, how to continue and how to grow along that path. It was an amazing instance of paintings talking to me -- discoursing! -- without words, on and on. The show closes on November 28th. I'll be back before it does.
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