Splashy spontaneity vies with nerdy control (e.g., outlining splashes) in these large-ish paintings--the untitled one above is 76 x 84 inches. The graffiti influence isn't on the surface of the work but in its guts. At times the paintings appear to be the product of group activity--this decentered, authorless quality isn't a flaw but what gives the art its poMo frisson. The air of total random street accident is hard to achieve, and the work vacillates between sense and meaninglessness in a good way. Every inch of every canvas receives some surface consideration--it might be good to see some spaces where absolutely nothing is happening. Exhibition details at ArtCal. Through October 20.
Day: October 13, 2007
Carsten Nicolai
Just noticed that Carsten Nicolai is showing at Pace Wildenstein (see ArtCal Zine review).
I wrote about him for Very magazine in '00--that review has been online for a while. Looking forward to the show--sure it will be insanely rigorous.
Update: Saw the exhibit. Considerable mileage exists between the work I covered and what's at Pace. The street edge, such as it was, is missing--this was very uptown. The music component made the trip worthwhile; subtle almost to the point of inaudibility, the white noise hissing in the Irwin/Turrell-like "mist room" and the fried pacemaker pulses pinging between the bombastic mirrored concavities in Room 2 brought the slightly subverting influence of the ear to the inevitable eye-dominating museum style installations.