Recently in Nash Gallery 1 Category

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I really enjoyed "Absentee Landlord" curated by Mr. Waters and the other exhibit titled "Parallel Occurrences/Documented Assignments". I did not find the latter exhibit particularly appealing visually, but rather the whole concept that the artist Mark Manders was working with and around. He was interested in everyday objects and language and how that shapes our relationship in and with the world around us. He is a bit of an anthropologist in that he was very focused on culture and the minute tangible objects that actually play a large part of our daily lives. He combined things that seem unconnected and creates a story from this relationship. I really like the idea of household objects, taxidermied animals and other non-living pieces having identities, stories and a life all their own. This reminds me of one of my favorite pieces of fiction by the author Tom Robbins titled "Skinny Legs and All" which does that very same thing with a spoon, sock, and can of beans.

John Waters curated exhibit was colorful and varied. He seems like an interesting artist, never keeping to one medium or another and always trying to stay in a provocative or perverse vein. One of his pieces that struck me right away was the 'cut/uncut' which needed no further explanation at first glance with the imagery of a spaceship running into the side of the white house beside the airplanes hitting the twin towers. It was just attesting to the tragedy and horror of that occurrence- which seems to happen unaccounted for all over the world all the time- and how it almost could be a fictionalized moment due to it's extremely violent nature, something that would be found in a blockbuster movie. The reason this image resonated with me so much is because I remember seeing the planes hit the towers live and firstly thinking that perhaps it was a new Michael Bay film being advertised. I also enjoyed the short film "Flooded McDonald's" by the artistic team Superflex. It was a poignant film in the message it was delivering about mass consumption and inevitable disaster, global issues, commodity fetishism and outsourcing and the effects that that will have on local and foreign economies and their respective environments. The "Exposed" exhibit was really engaging with it's disturbing photography and installations and the idea of where is the line drawn on photography/mass media and society and how personal is too personal? It dealt with all the attention getting themes of violence, sex, celebrity and viscera which I found especially appealing. I think I enjoyed that because of my fascination with human biology and also that unappetizing feeling you get by looking at disturbing images of flesh and blood that you are still drawn to, with those tug of war feelings of repulsion and arousal, and those goos bumps that eventually proceed from that visualization. I also liked that Waters included the Yves Klein print of the female bodies on that translucent piece of fabric, or curtain of which I cannot remember the name. It was my favorite in the Klein "Blue" exhibit. I also would like to check out the "Ballad of Sexual Dependency" which I missed due to time constraints. It is really wonderful being able to witness something so intimate and artfully done, universal but individualized to each personal relationship.

I was very surprised when I walked into Nash. I wasn't expecting anything like what was there. The creativity demonstrated in the first few pieces, raised the bar for the rest. The massive size of Tim Harding's Shrouds were overwhelming, in the best way. As I walked through the rest of the exhibit I noticed how meticulous the work was. Not only did most of these pieces have to be painted or died, they then had to be assembled and stitched in just the perfect way. By using different kinds of fabrics, different artists achieved a wide variety of looks. Being able to fold over your materials can be a great way to look at it in a whole new way. Then by stitching (and I believe most, if not all were hand stitched) to combine the fabric created an entirely different thing. For some, this was a bigger picture of a landscape or something, while others simply used it to create quilt-like patchwork.
One that caught my attention was Mary Edna Fraser's series, Great Barrier Reef, Backwater, and Cooper River. The three went together beautifully and the way she put it together was interesting. It reminded me of using the magic wand or the magnetic lasso tools in Photoshop. Each wave and ripple of the water was shown. They seemed to be cut out and pasted together.
Another work that interested me was Linda Gass's Wetlands Dream Revisited. This piece reminded me of the group in class who for sketch #1 did West Bank Map. It had a cobblestone effect because the fabric was divided into smaller sections by sewing itself... it didn't always have another fabric sewn to it to create this look.
As I mentioned before, Tim Harding's work really had an impact on me. After walking through the gallery, I returned to the front to look more closely at his shrouds and the two pieces he had next to them. Falling Man, Ascending Man, and Vanishing Man were all Huge! the way they were assembled was ridiculous, like putting together a puzzle or something. This was also very meticulous and worth appreciating the time it took him to create these pieces. Next to them were two wall hangings of portraits. One was done with cutouts, similar to one of the shrouds. the edges of the fabric were allowed to flip up and curl creating a more interesting look to the overall portrait. The other one was made from a wire frame in a checkerboard pattern. The fabric was weaved into this to create the portrait. Both were simply amazing.
The use of materials at the Nash gallery relates back to the post-modernism article we read in class... using already made objects and/or creating 'from scratch.' Either way, this exhibit of post modern art proves that art isn't about what you use, its about expressing yourself and your ideas in a way so others can share it.