Andy Goldsworthy "Spire" @ Presidio, San Francisco

Maximo Gonzalez "Magma LXX-I," paper currency, 2010-11 @ "Mexicanismo" San Jose Museum of Art

"Small Wonders" @ San Jose International Airport

     Continuing the theme of Cabinet of Curiosities, this collection of artworks address the intersection of art, technology and digital culture. Work by 21 artists have been selected by San Jose’s ZER01 to explore a wide array of interpretations of the Art + Technology theme.
     A wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities was a diverse collection of objects during the Renaissance and is considered an early form of the museum. Literally meaning “wonder room,” a wunderkammer was meant to invoke a sense of wonder and often included a wide range of objects from natural history specimens such as taxidermy to geological artifacts such as precious stones to cultural objects such as handicrafts. Small Wonders presents a range of objects by mostly local artists, which evoke some of the wonder of the early history of Silicon Valley and computing in general, with projects like Eduardo Kac’s early Minitel animations or Erik Klein’s recreation of a hack of an Altair computer as well as the wonderful “curiosities” that artists create using various forms of technology from blogging pigeons to spy coconuts to the “instruction art” of Robert J. Lang’s lifelike origami peregrine falcon.


Featured Artists:
Saul Becker, Jim Campbell, Center for PostNatural History, Peter Chilvers and Sandra O’Neill, Beatriz da Costa, Amy Franceschini, Ken Goldberg and Karl F. Böhringer, Tad Hirsch, Misako Inaoka, Natalie Jeremijenko, Eduardo Kac, Erik Klein, Robert J. Lang, Christopher Locke, Frank Oppenheimer, John F. Simon, Jr., Stephanie Syjuco, Daina Taimina, Gail Wight

Sarah Braman "These Days" @ International Art Objects Galleries

"Calling Wendy," 2012, aluminum, plexiglass, paint, radio, 67 x 63 x 32 1/2

"Time Machine," 2012, aluminum, plexiglass, paint, 70 1/2 x 53 x 25

"Dawn Dog," 2012, aluminum, plexiglass, paint, 51 x 24 x 68

What's not to enjoy about light, surface, and color?  The better of the works in the exhibition (images shown here) refers less to form as cast-off readymade and more to an ongoing potential to transform the present through interplay of movement (light and sound), though it was not clear to me, for example, what the boom box was referencing in "Calling Wendy" outside of nostalgia, formal accretion and vertical reassertion. Of course, that might be enough.  On the the other hand, I tuned in to what was playing, and it felt far too random (though left end of the dial) for what appeared like otherwise very deliberate decisions within each work and possibly as a whole installation, especially where there was adventitious dialogue between objects ("Time Machine" and "Dawn Dog," for example).  For "Calling Wendy," (indie pop reference or love lost paean?) I would have been happier with "static"---both it and not---as a way to oppose the formal dynamics phenomenally and linguistically. Perhaps that would have been too easy...? Either way there is enough verifiable seduction embedded within these objects to override any suggested, casual indifference; titles and press releases are not enough to disclaim such lacks of desire (and they are not loose enough to be thought of as such).  Besides, art historical references abound here.  Why apologize? I dunno, I guess that's how things go, er um, these days. I keep wanting to refrain, oh well, whatever, nevermind...

Jonas Wood @ David Kordansky

"Calais Drive," 2012
oil and acrylic on canvas
104"x 84"

"BBall Studio,"2012
oil and acrylic on canvas
105" x 138"

"Untitled (Kusama Double-Portrait)," 2012
oil and acrylic on canvas
77" x 53"

Jockney? Wanting to do math where it doesn't make sense to do so (("Jonas" minus "onas"=J) or ("jock"+ Hockney))=Jock Hockney.  Or self + subject + historical referent= another grand celebration of why living in southern California is all about the fine line between interiority and exteriority. Light + color + place= hard to tell the differences sometimes and it doesn't really matter because painting can be a ball!

Elad Lassry @ David Kordansky

Expecting another suite of exquisitely framed, well-manicured photos, instead, I was reminded how much more important an installation space can be to a viewing experience than is often considered for such a regular showing of smallish black and whites.  Not quite leaving with anything memorable in that department, again I was enthralled with how beautiful light, surface, and color can be for their own inter-relations in such a space.  (Note subtle interplay of light, shadow, and color in my hand-held installation shots).  I guess if I were to attempt any kind of full-circle thinking, perhaps Lassry's previously colored, photo frames were to be thought about as reflection (past elements) and more importantly, something outside of the presence of the still (dead), black and white photograph.  To extend this thinking, I guess with this recent body of work, we are to see ourselves more complicit in the viewing experience--peek-a-boo, repetitive, frame by frame, and so on.  Come to think of it, I do recall an overall character of deep history and nostalgia within the images. Unfortunately, nothing concrete registers save the distant view of a man, and that feels like too much of a partial story. Perhaps I'm just being selfish here, but I could have used more of the artist's more recent past, a fix for high quality finish in frame and image.  Because this showing seems like such a big risk in one sense, and so transitional in another, the only thing to do is default to the "wondering-what-might-be-next" line of thinking.  As for now, I'd rather have stayed in a present.