Dubious Landscape, 2014
vinyl composition tiles, digital print on PVC vinyl
23 3/4 x 17 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches, 48 x 49 1/2 inches
Country Pate in Black Aspic, 2014
vinyl composition tiles, digital print on PVC vinyl
23 x 19 1/4 x 19 1/4, 54 x 58 inches
Topiary with Horizon, 2014
vinyl composition tiles, digital print on PVC vinyl
24 1/4 inches x 24 1/4 inches x 24 1/4 inches, 48 x 48 inches
Humid Gardens (I) and Humid Gardens (II), 2014
vinyl composition tiles, digital print on PVC vinyl
30 1/4 x 10 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches each, 54 x 48 x 75 inches each
Country Pate in Black Aspic, 2014
vinyl composition tiles, digital print on PVC vinyl
23 x 19 1/4 x 19 1/4, 54 x 58 inches
Sol Lewitt and Carl Andre sprang instantly to mind when viewing this work in terms of depth and all manner of questions about the floor and whether the work was to be walked upon or walked around. If the latter, then the exhibition becomes a very cramped one where viewing discrete works becomes nearly impossible due to volume of exhibition space in relation to scale of objects to be considered.
With the art historical and viewing concerns momentarily set aside, it was enjoyable to walk among the work and consider the multiple perspectives and the kinds of surprises around every corner (at least in terms of color and shape). I wasn't sold on the material choices (vinyl floor tiles out of the box that conjure various institutions also outside of the Art context such as hospitals, schools, generic office spaces, etc...). Rather than transforming the materials in some way physically/chemically, for example, they relied on juxtapositions that recalled collage and cubism (not a bad place to go all things considered actually) but without the integral layering and visual simultaneity that would come with such a view. I suppose if I were on a ladder, I could have found such a synthesis. Instead, for one of my shots, I held the camera overhead to achieve about the same thing. It's the fourth one from the top and the one I like the best. It emphasizes the play at the frame between "object" and space. I suppose, come to think of it, they were all doing this in different ways.
Thus, with initial thoughts and titles in mind, the work was less about structural systems and material sensation, per se, and more about metaphorical relationships between nature and culture, very generally, remote edenic landscapes more specifically. How this was synthesizing was less clear, though such a disconnect between industrially processed materials and places from whence they may have, ultimately, originated was worth thinking about.
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