Dead-Fit Beauty
Frankenstein is in the house. Yeah, he's here. Evidence of his creationism is everywhere in this exhibition of “figurative” work. These mostly human (somewhat beastly), artforms leave a trail of dangling signifiers while confronting the viewer with paradoxical permutations of live objects.
The following artists manipulate Imaging machines that graft, morph, ooze and mutate genetic information into sculptural and photographic form.
Rees: Translucent life forms created at oddly generative moments in virtual space visit us via photographs. A series of highly detailed laminated skins form objects of delicate fascination.
Crockett: A sculptural lung system that seems to be an organism forming itself from the inside out. Photos place this creature in an aqueous substance where it is perhaps breeding, feeding or maybe being preserved.
Shaw: Photos of liquid intelligence. Ever changing effervescent forms caught in a stop-action mania. Seemingly random shapes become distinctly recognizable, then disappear, continuously reinventing themselves.
Shotz: An animated computer fungus (virus?) is repeatedly projected onto the wall, struggling to graft itself to the surface.
Can it escape its virual reality? Photos of similar forms reveal a hidden nature.
von Bergen: A sculpture in the form of a skeletal leg in search of its flesh and uncertain of its own shape. Close-up photography exposes soft-tissue communication active in the joints.
Preheim: We are presented with forms left behind and trapped inside test-tubes and other Pyrex vessels. A sanitized environment is hinted at, but can it really exist?
Kaufman: Here is a sculptural ensemble lorded over by a three-headed hound. Predatory or simply proud to be present? What is this creature's role in its environment? Photos lead us astray.
Dead-fit, gangly and pixilated biogenetic materials defiantly posed and in awe of their own beauty. A gathering of bodies, coexisting for the moment, which awaits their migratory release; however, something seems amiss. An absence is sensed. Yes, Elvis has left the building. Bloated, self-conscious and lumbering backstage through a series of dark passages, this somnambulist's dream takes its leave. He's gone, his largess having hardly disturbed a speck of spectral dust. A space will be left empen his honor.
Peter Dudek
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Curator
Opening Reception:
Tuesday, February 4, 1997
5:30-7:30pm
The Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery
Hunter College of the City University of New York
West Building 68th Street and Lexington Avenue
New York, New York
Hours: Monday - Saturday, 1:00 - 6:00pm
Phone: (212) 772-4991