ART EXHIBITION

Material Pursuits
at the
Robert Hull Fleming
Museum

Many contemporary artists express a desire to bridge gaps, to subvert the often emotionally charged categories imposed on (or by) the art world: design… craft…fine art…functional art…outsider art. The Fleming Museum’s new exhibit, “Material Pursuits”, showcases fourteen artists who appear unafraid to turn their backs on the the process of categorization. The diverse exhibitors don’t seem to concern themselves directly with the question of art vs. craft; tradition exerts its influence nonetheless, with fascinating results.

The museum describes the group as representing a new approach to everyday materials, combined with deep individual senses of art, history, and personal intention. To dispense with formal language, this exhibit is fun. (Hearing pipe cleaners called “chenille stems” alone is worth the price of admission.) At times, “Material Pursuits” feels like a world created by a bunch of child geniuses who have invited you into their clubhouse. From Lee Boroson’s Touchdown, which comprises white nylon, georgette, and a compressed air apparatus to resemble a meteorologically-inspired cheese doodle funnel cloud, to Jason Middlebrook’s beautified tires, overlaid with reflective tiles and arranged deliberately to mimic the human propensity to discard, “Material Pursuits” invites questions about perception, accessibility, and the audience’s relationship with art.

Jane South’s Untitled (Paralleling) (hand cut & folded paper, ink, acrylic, balsa wood, 2007) greets visitors with a visual spectacle that brings to mind a very beautiful Rube Goldberg machine. The wall-spanning structure is built from many separate 3-D geometric components—oblongs, globes, cagelike cubes and cylinders, to name a few— painted in industrial colors: rust, steel, boxcar blue. South often uses leftover materials from previous projects to create her architecturally inspired sculptures.

If “craft” has traditionally been identified and arranged according to the materials used, it’s worth contrasting the artists here who work with fabric and embroidery. In This Sour Desire (cotton, silk, organdy, 2003), Jessica Rankin embroiders quotes, snippets and musings in black thread on a long fabric background, creating a meandering yet purposeful narrative. Sun rays extending the length of the fabric, mountains and delicate waves nod to the ancient traditions of weaving while offering something entirely novel. At center, one of many phrases: “The exact same words tell a new…story”. This idea could be applied to the exhibit, with “materials” substituted for “words”.

Another unconventional use of fiber is Sabrina Gschwandtner’s Phototactic Behavior in Sewn Slides (fiber & film slide projection, 2004). An eerie slideshow with punctured slides and black thread “animated” by the projector fan makes for a constantly changing visual experience. The thread resembles branches in the wind, while the embellishments could be amoebas in a petri dish. One slide seemed like a view of a violet urban night sky, viewed through a barbed wire fence studded with raindrops.

Elana Herzog contributes to this theme of turning fabric crafty-ness on its head by deconstructing found textiles and embedding them in drywall. Candlewicked (cotton & chenille bedspreads, staples, 2007) is a floor-to-ceiling shredded skeleton of colorful, old fashioned bedding. Rather than building, Herzog takes material away, eschewing function and leaving an eloquent emptiness. The pastels and Victorian designs contrast with the resulting decrepit effect.

In another installation, Sheila Pepe weaves a web overhead in the museum’s Marble Court. Like an enormous dreamcatcher made of tulle, thread, rope, and shoelaces, it seems at first delightfully incongruous. Somehow, though, Pepe’s work inhabits the space gracefully, incorporating the Fleming’s large chandelier as its center. Donatello’s sculpture of Saint George looks on from the head of the stairs, bemused. What would the Italian masters make of all this? Seen from above, the web delineates the space and also adds dimension, uneven and gapped, but complete.

It’s not possible to detail all fourteen artists here, but each makes a compelling contribution to this multi-dimensional show, which succeeds outside of any classification.

G. BLAKE MACPHAIL

 

 

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