If any of you have ever seen a Ryan McGinness piece then you know how he tries to bridege the precarious gap between fine art and graphic design, low and high art, installation and painting. In fact his work not only bridges this gap it embraces the best of all these genres and blends them into a cohesive world of his own making. Walking into the space one notices how McGinness's pieces are not only on panel and other supports but they also bleed off onto the wall making the entire space an environment in which to inhabit. His quirky hyrogliphic language is inscribed on every surface making the viewer itch with the desire to desypher his cryptic code. McGinness uses vynel cut outs, graphiti like stencils, and a number of technological processes to create his work taking full advantage of these tools. At times his work can be overwhelming in color and repition as well as the monotony of his imagery but none-the-less McGinness's proliphic work makes for wonderful eye candy.
Since Halloween is close approaching, and since it's one of my favorite holidays I must tell you of a quite humorous exhibition I witnessed at Moti Hasson Gallery. The Artist is Jillian McDonald and the name of her show was Waking The Dead This was not only a great exhibition but it was absolutely hillarious. As in most horror movies their is often a female victim who becomes the fixation of the ominous monster, zombie, or what have you who innevitably screams that blood curtling scream we love to hear in any horror movie. In most cases this scream is a declaration of terror and fright but in JIllain's video pieces this scream becomes the voice of reckoning. Jillian interjects herself into numerous well known horror movies such as ZOMBIE 2(ZOMBIE), FRIDAY THE 13TH, and THE SHINING, to name a few, and uses her scream to repel and at times destroy the foul thing that has vowed to destroy her. Along with her video she also has lenticular photographs of herslf and others that require the participation of the viewer to transform their images into horrific zombies. I must say even the youtube esgue presentation of her video The Screaming only added to the flavor of these memorable horror movies. This was an extremely fun show I just wish she was there performing in the gallery.
Thats it for now. Hopefully tomorrow I will post about a beautiful video installation called SCUM and Mayumi Sarai, a wonderful sculptor/installation artist.
