Josh Kline: "Social Media" at the Lisson Gallery

Josh Kline’s “Social Media” explores the way bodies become fragmented by the precarity of the labor conditions in the digital age. His works are visceral reflections of the present moment in time. 

Life sized reproductions of human limbs are juxtaposed with office objects such as keyboards, computer chairs and cell phones, wrapped with the packaging of major e-commerce companies, images of bank statements, and credit cards. Hollowed out, the limbs bleed with social media apps and credit card statements. The fragmented body parts are adorned with workwear such as boots, denim and trucker hats – the typical attire of the e-commerce worker. 

 

Klein compares blue-collar workers to the identities of artists and creators. Presented in an objective and sterile way as static, utilitarian objects, the sculptures are carefully laid atop tables, in cubicle-like white rooms. The viewer is a witness to the figurative crime scene of dismemberment. Each work is separated by an enclosed wall, creating a feeling of anticipation as the viewer continues throughout the exhibit, not fully knowing what scene to expect next, such as a life-sized recreation of the artist’s body wrapped in plastic. “Social Media” reflects on how the ubiquity of monetary value affects the way workers perceive themselves, newly intertwined with the use of the body as a commodity in the digital sphere. 

- Ekaterina Maisheva #

Sara Cwynar's Baby Blue Benzo at 52 Walker

Sara Cwynar's Baby Blue Benzo

   Sara Cwynar’s exhibition Baby Blue Benzo, is a photography and installation based show that creates a unique gallery experience from the moment you walk in. The floors are covered with lush grey carpet, and many walls are filled with floor length photographs. These photographs are printed on tabloid sized papers and individually taped together with bright tape, highlighting the materiality. The outside perimeter of the show is a combination of these large scale images and more traditional gallery style hung work consisting of silkscreen and chromogenic prints of collages. The imagery is bright, consumeristic, and slightly retro, giving the show a technicolor and nostalgic feeling. This is further emphasized through the film running in the middle of the gallery. A wide screen projector is playing a 21 minute long video featuring the Blue Benzo along with Pamela Anderson and other models in the same bright and decorated atmosphere as the 2D components of the show. 

    Because of the compelling film and ceiling high images, the more typical work, although matching the same aesthetic, falls a little short and is simply overpowered. They try to compensate for this by getting creative with the placement of the photographs, however, that is not strong enough to balance the works and leaves you a little dissatisfied.

-Alexa Toews #

Jordan Casteel's "Field of View"

        On View at the Hill Art Foundation, Jordan Casteel’s “Field of View” is a combined body of work from the ten most recent years of the artist’s career. The conversation between paintings creates a concise vision that works well with her vibrant color palette to depict scenes of friends, family, and neighbors in New York City. The symmetrically halved compositions found in pieces like Traveling Mercies, 2019, suggest intentional planning and make for pleasant viewing.

 

Traveling Mercies by Casteel, 2019, Oil on Canvas

    As “Field of View” implies, photography is relevant to the artist’s methods. Casteel is known for taking photographs of her subjects before beginning her paintings. I would normally find this method sanitizing as it tricks artists into painting simply what is seen in the photograph, leaving the works flat and lifeless. However, in this case, the intimate scenes of candid humanity highlight Casteel’s presence in capturing the image both behind the camera and in front of the canvas.

        Additionally, “Field of View” encourages us to reflect on sites within sites, as the works depict scenes from throughout New York. I think Casteel is the perfect artist to facilitate this, but I also think it to be dissonant. “Field of View” is up in Chelsea, once a neighborhood that was affordable and accessible to marginalized groups; as I pondered sites within sites, it became hard to ignore that we were perusing work about the working class and people of color while in a neighborhood that has transformed into a beacon of their own displacement.

- Alex Lopez-Martinson*

Pieter Schoolwerth, “Supporting Actor” — 3rd update

Pieter Schoolwerth’s Supporting Actor at Petzel Gallery features works of painting, sculpture, and film, combined in complex installations. The space is organized as a loop, providing two ways of approach. Choosing the left path brings you to a cubicle that represents a smaller version of the gallery. Inside are smaller-sized paintings, electrical equipment next to a small dummy, and a red tunnel closed at the other end. On the outside of the cubicle are works of plastic composite reliefs that form abstract silhouettes of fluid figures and landscapes. Rounding the corner, the space opens to large canvases coated in thick smears of paint that blend hues and tones into space-age computer-generated realities. Onepainting, Behind the World, appears to depict a psychedelic disco scene taking place on a spiraled green and black floor. Tiny dancers populate the foreground while giants boogie in the background. On the opposite wall is a life-sized model of a bathroom flipped on its side. The bathroom’s mirror opens back up to the red tunnel which leads back to the miniature version of the gallery. Finally, the gallery wraps around to a large black box room where a mind-bending CGI-animated film plays several scenes accompanied by a disorienting soundtrack by musical artist Aaron Dilloway. In one sequence, an animated version of Dilloway is seen standing in a bizarre club with liquid alien creatures; think Star Wars cantina but stranger. 

Schoolwerth’s work brings attention to the sensitive boundary that divides painting from technology, as well as the boundary between reality and the unreal. The visual intensity of Schoolwerth’s paintings, achieved in giant swirls of smeared pigment on large canvases, stretches the viewer’s image-processing power to its very limit. The result, while certainly overstimulating, is undeniably spectacular and refreshing.

Wendy Clarke: Love Tapes

Wendy Clarke’s Love Tapes explores what love means to the people of New York City in 1980. Using video, Clarke becomes a collector of stories, engaging in a process that captures individual experience. She invites strangers to sit alone in front of a camera and speak for 3 minutes about the love in their lives. Though brief, the videos provide an intimate glimpse into the feelings and histories of participants.

Each tape presents a unique perspective on love, reflecting the depth and intricacy of the word. A woman speaks softly about a man she lost, describing an attachment that endures beyond death. A young man rambles about how he longs for the fulfillment of romantic love and, by the end of his segment, gazes directly into the eye of the camera, declaring that “love is eternal.” A sense of fluidity is felt as viewers move seamlessly from one video to the next, immersing themselves in these varied interpretations. 

As I watched the piece, I thought about my own definitions of love. Being loved is to be seen and acknowledged, and Clarke’s Love Tapes does exactly that. It recognizes the rare feeling of connection and voices it earnestly through the art of filmmaking. By sharing these personal anecdotes, Clarke not only shows the complexity of love but also invites us to consider our understanding of the emotion.

Kaitlyn Eoff *

Suneil Sanzgiri, Golden Jubilee at Arts Center at Governors Island

Part of Sanzgiri’s 2021 “Barobar Jagtana” trilogy, Golden Jubilee is a video installation focused on colonialism in India. Filled with an array of media such as digital renderings, filmed video, and text, the film encapsulates the culture of Goa and its history as a colonial port turned vacation hub. 

Sanzgiri focuses on anticolonialism. His family hails from Goa, India, but he now lives in the US. He uses the unique tool of 3D renderings in the software Rhino. Not only does he show the finished renderings, but the footage from using the software itself before the final version is rendered, ultimately including the process in his final work.

The film is heavy with imagery of post-colonial Goa depicting aspects like slow, undulating shots of India’s natural landscape interspersed with short poems about Indian anti-colonialism sentiments along with 3D renderings of Sanzgiri’s family home. The renderings show close-ups and wide shots of the home, but the most eye-catching are the translucent shots. One scene, lasting a few minutes, slowly walks through Sanzgiri’s home. A darkness lingers in the background; all the shots are layered, transparent, and dreamlike, as if they were sheer layers of fabric atop one another. The renderings resemble decay, a suggestion of the fall of India’s colonial system. This piece is a reclamation of ownership, and a step towards India's decolonized future.

Paul Howell*

Sir Issac Julien's: Lessons of the Hour

     Ten screens, simultaneously play different scenes and images, framed in a red room. Voices and sounds dance around the room in time with the scenes bouncing across the screens. The viewer's eye is forced to flicker through the room in hopes of keeping up, only for the ensemble of images and sound to still by the single crack of a whip. 

    British artist and filmmaker Sir Issac Julien’s Lesson of the Hour (2019) at the MoMA entices the viewers from the moment they enter the exhibition. Based on the life of the American abolitionist Fredrick Douglas, the exhibition opens with a small room filled with photographs of and writings by Douglas. The walls are covered in newspapers and posters depicting Douglas. This grounds the viewer in the real history of Douglas’s life, allowing for the more experimental and unorthodox documentary Julien explores. 

    The main space of the exhibition is a masterclass in gallery design. The ten screens, the all-red walls, and the use of powerful speakers present an unconventional environment separate from the traditional film-watching experience of a single screen in a black room. The viewers watch Douglas’s life from different angles and times simultaneously. Then when it is least expected, the images and audio align to a cotton field with the lone sound of the whip cracking. A chill courses down as the unity is off-putting in the chaos. This makes the moment that much more horrific and impactful, once again a cruel reminder of the real events Douglas and millions of other men and children had to suffer through.

Installation view of Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour, 

Emile Askey.

Installation view of Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour, Evie Glidden