Weekly Art #32 - Altmejd and Erik Wysocan at Andrea Rosen

Personal narrative: David Altmejd's show is across the street from my show. It's weird, man. Walking into the gallery (Andrea Rosen) I was in (the year) 2000 (sometime between 1999 and 2001) seeing some crazy whited out goth art for the first time (again). I'll cut to the quick- the angel sculptures made out of hands (seem to be at first glance and have yet been seen otherwise by the author) are crap. Total crap.

Above: crappy Soho gallery expressive figurative sculpture or "Untitled 2 (Bodybuilders)" 2011

They're the kind of garbage you'd see at one of those soho galleries where they still think art means making figurative work out of bronze or steel or whatever kind of rusty metal they choose employing varying degrees of "expression" or non-expression (read: showing mark making or not showing mark making). The wall vagina isn't cool either.

Above: the wall vagina or "The Architect 1" 2011 - plaster, wood, foam, burlap, laytex paint, dimensions variable (ain't that the truth)

Now the vitrines, they're something else. There's this one filled with crystals and rocks and such in the back that's beautiful, quiet, exciting, and not too goth feeling.

Above - a vitrine I like a lot (Spectre, 2011).

It's partially empty, it's organized, it's clannish. I like crystals and rocks that look cool. It's made out of all of these neat thing: Plexiglas, amethyst, amazonite, apophyllite, aragonite, black tourmaline, celestite, fluorite, hematite, dolomite, optical calcite, sulfur, selenite, spessartite garnet, stibnite, raw tourmaline, rose quartz, quartz, peridot in basalt matrix, peridot. YES!

The other vitrines are cool, too. The use of colored strings is especially appealing. Here's what they look like:

This is the worst thing in the show (when I was in Andrea Rosen was figuring out its scale with an assistant and two collectors) is this thing:

Which is too bad cuz it's in the room with that great crystal vitrine.

The real surprise is in the second gallery (Gallery 2). Erik Wysocan's first solo show is similar in many ways to Altmejd's half catastrophe, except I like EVERYTHING in it. Here are some images. Go check it out.

Above: ERIK WYSOCAN
(Mémoires De La Motte, 1789)
2011
Found copy of Mémoires De La Motte, found reproduction Sevres creamer, found Sevres plate, found postcard of Sevres factory workers, found postcard with image of the bust of Alexandre Brongniart, found etching with the image of Marat's memorial, acrylic, polarizing film, wood, paint
Approximately: 37 1/2 x 47 x 24 inches
(95.3 x 119.4 x 61 cm)

above: ERIK WYSOCAN
(Découvertes de M. Marat sur le feu, l'éctricitité, et la lumière, 1779)
2011
Found x-ray machine, wood, paint
Video element:
Edition 1 of 3 of
(Découvertes de M. Marat sur le feu, l'éctricitité, et la lumière, 1779), 2011
and
Edition 1 of 3 of
(Découvertes de M. Marat sur le feu, l'éctricitité, et la lumière, 1779), 2011
Overall dimensions vary with installation
X-ray element:
50 1/4 x 68 x 42 inches
(127.6 x 172.7 x 106.7 cm)

above: installation shot

above: ERIK WYSOCAN
(By whom will these keepers be kept?) / (∎∎ ∎∎∎∎ ∎∎∎∎ ∎∎∎∎∎ ∎∎∎∎∎∎∎ ∎∎ ∎∎∎∎?)
2011
Light box element: LED Light panel, polarizing film, acrylic, packing tape, cellophane
Wood element: Plywood, paint
Overall dimensions vary with installation
Light box: 36 x 24 x 6 1/8 inches
(91.4 x 61 x 15.6 cm)
Wood element, approximately: 51 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches
(130.8 x 19.1 x 41.9 cm)