Kendell Carter in:
Liberation Summer
May 21 – July 30, 2011
moniquemeloche gallery
2154 W. Division
Chicago, IL 60622
http://moniquemeloche.com
- Paul Germanos
Showing posts with label Postminimalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Postminimalism. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Pictorial: Kendell Carter @ Monique Meloche
Kendell Carter in:
Liberation Summer
May 21 – July 30, 2011
moniquemeloche gallery
2154 W. Division
Chicago, IL 60622
http://moniquemeloche.com
- Paul Germanos
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Review: Carla Arocha & Stephane Schraenen @ Monique Meloche
Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" is well-loved in Chicago. Its polished, stainless steel skin reflects not only the City skyline but also those spectators near to the curvilinear work, thus providing equal opportunity for civic pride and public vanity--assuming that they are distinguishable.[1]
Above: Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate"
In a similar manner, for the purpose of examining their own reflections, patrons (including the author) drew close to the mirror-like surfaces contained within four pieces of statuary on display at the opening of Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's show "As if" at Monique Meloche Gallery.
Above: Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's "Untitled (gold)" which, on a different scale, would fit quite nicely into Chicago's skyline. See MvdR's 1971 IBM Building,[2] which Ira J. Bach called, "superbly proportioned."[3]
It was a human response, likely engendered by the scale and proportion (59 x 20 x 12 inches in every case) of the art.[4] The bright, acrylic sheets filling each sculpture were said to have been laser-cut; the monolithic cabinets holding that acrylic were said to have been fastidiously constructed from synthetic board painted with automobile enamel. But, contrary to the orchestrated precision which characterized the process of the artworks' fabrication, it was that random, casual, and natural reaction of the audience which provided the color--according to the (reflected) dress of the attendee. What seemed at first proper to judge as a minimal and nearly monochromatic presentation of regular, geometric forms was enlivened by the entry of the crowd.
Above: Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's "Untitled (lines)"
Visual art is "alive" when it's seen, in real time and space, by an engaged party. And, generally, it's fatal to understanding to imagine that artworks (any cultural products) exist only in the vacuum of "white cube" gallery and museum spaces. Hopefully, internet viewership and academic practice--being abstracted from reality--will not wholly displace the pursuit of direct experience and the practice of personal contemplation. How much color is in Arocha and Schraenen's show? as much or as little color as is in the environment in which it's displayed. Light, clothing, paint on the walls: The pieces are affected by whatever surrounds them.
Above: Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's"Untitled (bubbles)"
On perception: The gallery's front window and front wall (facing Division) have been treated with precisely-cut vinyl tape, so that two concentric ring patterns are held on planes parallel to one another, separated by a distance of roughly two meters. As viewed from the sidewalk and/or street, a "moire" effect appears in a striking manner. The high contrast of the black and white, figure and ground, is boldly graphic. But the piece is truly three-dimensional (sculpture) as its appreciation depends upon spatial relationships. It's from this installation that the show takes its title; and it's probably the most effective use of the storefront to date.
Above: Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's "As if"
The whole show--installation, statuary, and four photographic prints--seems very much more expansive than it is, thanks to good placement and light.
[1] Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" is curvilinear in shape--but contains within its surface the reflections of many rectilinear shapes as a result of the context in which it has been placed.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/330_North_Wabash
Above: Mies van der Rohe's 1971 IBM Building at 330 N. Wabash
[3] "Chicago's Famous Buildings" Third Edition, ed. Ira J. Bach (1965, 1969; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) 95-96.
[4] If the scale and the proportion (but not the shape) of Arocha & Schraenen's statuary relates to the human body, in the context of Chicago the shape and proportion (if not the scale) of that statuary relates to the City's Modern architecture.
Carla Arocha & Stephane Schraenen
"As if"
September 16 – November 6, 2010
Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
Monique Meloche Gallery
2154 W. Division (@ Leavitt)
Chicago, IL 60622
http://moniquemeloche.com
See also: Lauren Weinberg's Time Out Chicago review of Carla Arocha & Stephane Schraenen,
http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/art-design/90016/carla-arocha-and-stephane-schraenen-at-monique-meloche-art-story
- Paul Germanos
Above: Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate"
In a similar manner, for the purpose of examining their own reflections, patrons (including the author) drew close to the mirror-like surfaces contained within four pieces of statuary on display at the opening of Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's show "As if" at Monique Meloche Gallery.
Above: Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's "Untitled (gold)" which, on a different scale, would fit quite nicely into Chicago's skyline. See MvdR's 1971 IBM Building,[2] which Ira J. Bach called, "superbly proportioned."[3]
It was a human response, likely engendered by the scale and proportion (59 x 20 x 12 inches in every case) of the art.[4] The bright, acrylic sheets filling each sculpture were said to have been laser-cut; the monolithic cabinets holding that acrylic were said to have been fastidiously constructed from synthetic board painted with automobile enamel. But, contrary to the orchestrated precision which characterized the process of the artworks' fabrication, it was that random, casual, and natural reaction of the audience which provided the color--according to the (reflected) dress of the attendee. What seemed at first proper to judge as a minimal and nearly monochromatic presentation of regular, geometric forms was enlivened by the entry of the crowd.
Above: Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's "Untitled (lines)"
Visual art is "alive" when it's seen, in real time and space, by an engaged party. And, generally, it's fatal to understanding to imagine that artworks (any cultural products) exist only in the vacuum of "white cube" gallery and museum spaces. Hopefully, internet viewership and academic practice--being abstracted from reality--will not wholly displace the pursuit of direct experience and the practice of personal contemplation. How much color is in Arocha and Schraenen's show? as much or as little color as is in the environment in which it's displayed. Light, clothing, paint on the walls: The pieces are affected by whatever surrounds them.
Above: Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's"Untitled (bubbles)"
On perception: The gallery's front window and front wall (facing Division) have been treated with precisely-cut vinyl tape, so that two concentric ring patterns are held on planes parallel to one another, separated by a distance of roughly two meters. As viewed from the sidewalk and/or street, a "moire" effect appears in a striking manner. The high contrast of the black and white, figure and ground, is boldly graphic. But the piece is truly three-dimensional (sculpture) as its appreciation depends upon spatial relationships. It's from this installation that the show takes its title; and it's probably the most effective use of the storefront to date.
Above: Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's "As if"
The whole show--installation, statuary, and four photographic prints--seems very much more expansive than it is, thanks to good placement and light.
[1] Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" is curvilinear in shape--but contains within its surface the reflections of many rectilinear shapes as a result of the context in which it has been placed.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/330_North_Wabash
Above: Mies van der Rohe's 1971 IBM Building at 330 N. Wabash
[3] "Chicago's Famous Buildings" Third Edition, ed. Ira J. Bach (1965, 1969; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) 95-96.
[4] If the scale and the proportion (but not the shape) of Arocha & Schraenen's statuary relates to the human body, in the context of Chicago the shape and proportion (if not the scale) of that statuary relates to the City's Modern architecture.
Carla Arocha & Stephane Schraenen
"As if"
September 16 – November 6, 2010
Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
Monique Meloche Gallery
2154 W. Division (@ Leavitt)
Chicago, IL 60622
http://moniquemeloche.com
See also: Lauren Weinberg's Time Out Chicago review of Carla Arocha & Stephane Schraenen,
http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/art-design/90016/carla-arocha-and-stephane-schraenen-at-monique-meloche-art-story
- Paul Germanos
Friday, September 3, 2010
Review: Richard Rezac @ Devening Projects
His artworks are well-crafted, appealing, and maddeningly polite. Chicago-based Richard Rezac carefully organizes solid shapes within very compact dimensions, and through that activity has come to be defined as a sculptor. But, looking carefully, he's distinguished by the selective application of color, so that it seems equally good to consider him in the company of painters. Maybe it's that modest balance (ambiguity?) with regard to the fundamental criteria of visual art which quintessentially describes Rezac's work.
Having written that, the experience which Rezac offers is wholly, and unapologetically, visual. The rhythm of shapes repeated--the cascade--within any given piece is the result of the artist's own resolution of formal concerns. External references, which might be drawn in by an observer after the fact, seem to count for little when compared to Rezac's own control of his work's execution. He's possessed of a peculiar teleology of which his painted sculptures are evidence: they're his products in the sense that an oak produces acorns.
Historically, it's possible to locate Rezac after Minimalism and to describe him, partly, as a corrective to it. Minimalist sculptor Richard Serra, for example, might be most (in)famous for the physical encounters which he has forced through the public placement of heavy steel plates. Such massive objects, industrially fabricated and superficially neglected, seem as antithetical to Rezac's vision as the notion that art has a right to demand interaction through the exercise of its own brute strength. May 19, 1995, Chicago Tribune critic Alan Artner quoted Rezac as having said: "I am interested in making sculpture that you would approach and understand as you would the things that wash up on shore..."
Beyond his consideration of the spectator's choice to become involved, Rezac seems to have remembered the choice of direct involvement--in process--made by the AbEx predecessors to Minimalism, such as David Smith. Given Smith's current status within certain critical circles the comparison might initially seem odd, as it's very hard to apply the oft used (pejorative sense regarding Smith) term "macho" to the man (Rezac) or his art. But not all studio-based practices lead inevitably towards the same end; nor do all studio-based practices proceed towards their different ends in a like manner. His (Rezac's) oeuvre is, as written above (and remembering too the reference to teleology) virtuous in an Aristotelian sense: being a mean between one thing and another. And that state of being characteristic of the work seems not unrelated to the man himself. Social change, here, isn't proposed through literal activism and engagement, but rather by means of the (manifold sense) modeling--careful, patient, creative--resulting in the art.
Recalling Alan Artner again: On May 23, 2003, he (Artner) named Rezac, "one of the most [...] brilliant sculptors ever to have worked in Chicago." Currently on display at Devening Projects is a selection of Rezac's work which spans the decade just past. It might be a chance to meet Rezac for the first time and evaluate Artner's claim; or it might be a chance to remake his acquaintance in the company of painter Gary Stephan. The exhibition of Richard Rezac and Gary Stephan, which opened on August 29, 2010, is the first in a year-long series devoted to the bringing together of partners in visual dialogue.
On September 25, 2010, a second installation, featuring new work by the same two artists--including a gallery talk which is free, and open to the public--will begin.
Richard Rezac & Gary Stephan
August 29 – October 16, 2010
Saturdays 12pm – 6pm
(and by appointment)
Devening Projects and Editions
3039 W. Carroll
Chicago, IL 60612
http://deveningprojects.com
Richard Rezac,
http://richardrezac.com
Gary Stephan,
http://garystephanstudio.com
- Paul Germanos
Having written that, the experience which Rezac offers is wholly, and unapologetically, visual. The rhythm of shapes repeated--the cascade--within any given piece is the result of the artist's own resolution of formal concerns. External references, which might be drawn in by an observer after the fact, seem to count for little when compared to Rezac's own control of his work's execution. He's possessed of a peculiar teleology of which his painted sculptures are evidence: they're his products in the sense that an oak produces acorns.
Historically, it's possible to locate Rezac after Minimalism and to describe him, partly, as a corrective to it. Minimalist sculptor Richard Serra, for example, might be most (in)famous for the physical encounters which he has forced through the public placement of heavy steel plates. Such massive objects, industrially fabricated and superficially neglected, seem as antithetical to Rezac's vision as the notion that art has a right to demand interaction through the exercise of its own brute strength. May 19, 1995, Chicago Tribune critic Alan Artner quoted Rezac as having said: "I am interested in making sculpture that you would approach and understand as you would the things that wash up on shore..."
Beyond his consideration of the spectator's choice to become involved, Rezac seems to have remembered the choice of direct involvement--in process--made by the AbEx predecessors to Minimalism, such as David Smith. Given Smith's current status within certain critical circles the comparison might initially seem odd, as it's very hard to apply the oft used (pejorative sense regarding Smith) term "macho" to the man (Rezac) or his art. But not all studio-based practices lead inevitably towards the same end; nor do all studio-based practices proceed towards their different ends in a like manner. His (Rezac's) oeuvre is, as written above (and remembering too the reference to teleology) virtuous in an Aristotelian sense: being a mean between one thing and another. And that state of being characteristic of the work seems not unrelated to the man himself. Social change, here, isn't proposed through literal activism and engagement, but rather by means of the (manifold sense) modeling--careful, patient, creative--resulting in the art.
Recalling Alan Artner again: On May 23, 2003, he (Artner) named Rezac, "one of the most [...] brilliant sculptors ever to have worked in Chicago." Currently on display at Devening Projects is a selection of Rezac's work which spans the decade just past. It might be a chance to meet Rezac for the first time and evaluate Artner's claim; or it might be a chance to remake his acquaintance in the company of painter Gary Stephan. The exhibition of Richard Rezac and Gary Stephan, which opened on August 29, 2010, is the first in a year-long series devoted to the bringing together of partners in visual dialogue.
On September 25, 2010, a second installation, featuring new work by the same two artists--including a gallery talk which is free, and open to the public--will begin.
Richard Rezac & Gary Stephan
August 29 – October 16, 2010
Saturdays 12pm – 6pm
(and by appointment)
Devening Projects and Editions
3039 W. Carroll
Chicago, IL 60612
http://deveningprojects.com
Richard Rezac,
http://richardrezac.com
Gary Stephan,
http://garystephanstudio.com
- Paul Germanos
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