ARTLURKER
A MIAMI BASED CONTEMPORARY ART NEWSLETTER / BLOG
Screen cap from Secret Life by Reynold Reynolds
from the exhibition The Best of Loop: Remote Viewing.
WeHo is back on Artlurker’s A-list for Art Loves
Design at the Pacific Design Center. The initiative hosts a bevy of
artist-driven and gallery-initiated projects within a floor of vacant design
showrooms. From Carl Berg Gallery’s expansive show (see the cardboard tree
constructions by Allen Tombello), to the brilliant “library” installation of
painter Monique Van Genderen juxtaposed in a space by the physically daunting
clay works of Roger Herman, to Bari Ziperstein’s assiduous ceramic/collage
mélange at See Line Gallery’s space, the undertaking features oodles of
alt-galleries with which to whet one’s whistle.
Some of the galleries and artists selected
for the project leave the viewer wanting more, but the strongest show in West
Hollywood’s PDC is easily found in The Best of Loop: Remote
Viewing, curated by writer and video art scholar Paul Young. An elaborate
exhibition featuring 39 videos from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and
Asia, the show investigates a plethora of contemporary video art methodologies.
Culled from multiple trips to the Loop video art fair in Barcelona, Young was
originally asked to curate this show for LACMA just before the financial
meltdown. But, as has been the case in multiple recent museum exhibitions, the
host organization elected to drop the idea for financial reasons.
 |
| Paul Young |
Says Young, author
of Art Cinema (Taschen, November 2009): “I didn’t give
up. I devoted an entire year towards finding the resources, money, venue and
artists to participate. And in this financial climate, that’s pretty amazing,
if I do say so myself. I’ve been talking to several museums recently about
taking this show and everyone says, “Video? No way… too expensive.” Yet I
managed to do it all by myself with VERY little help. If a freelance journalist
can do it, anyone should be able to do it. If there are curators out there, or
artists, who are frustrated by the paltry shows being presented at museums at
the moment, I think they should go out there and put together a show of their
own!”
This writer concurs. Despite its limited budget, Remote Viewing’s meticulous compendium of videos runs the gamut of work being made in the medium today. Shown in rotation throughout the day, with each work exploring a different concern, themes vary from the body-based to the political to the ridiculous, and Young’s thoughtful and exhaustive research is apparent. In addition to two black box spaces designed by architect Matthew Gilio-Tenan where single channel videos are projected, dozens of monitor and wall works are also included in the show. England’s Wood & Harrison create droll, physical situations that veer close to the conceptual practice of both John Baldessari and Fischli & Weiss, but possess a singular vision that makes their work unique. The Netherland’s Jacco Olivier paints colorful, layered animations depicting the banal on glass, where everyday occurrences, portraits and pastoral scenes distinctively comment on the practice of painting while observing the temporal nature of video. The hilarious is trotted out with the work of Israeli artist Nira Pereg, where dozens of flamingos in an encapsulated environment hear gunshots and “duck”…the choreography of the work couldn’t be better. But the shot-caller of the exhibition is undoubtedly the time-lapse video by Berlin’s Reynold Reynolds. Plants grow quickly, clocks spin uncontrollably, and a woman’s corporal gesticulations played in reverse are absolutely unsettling. The stunning, nearly 15-minute work finds itself hovering between gorgeous and bewildering, with richness of intent and technological prowess shining throughout.
Screen cap from Secret Life by Reynold Reynolds from the exhibition The Best of Loop: Remote Viewing.
“Most of the work comes from larger
studio practices, and much of it is highly polished and often wildly
entertaining. Yet at the same time, it’s also very expressive of the times
we’re living in, and much of it conveys a distinctly different point of view,”
states Young.
Pondering so many different points of view
has the potential to be daunting, but Remote Viewing sturdily
posits itself as the most inspiring video exhibition in California, if not the
US, for 2009[.]
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