Surveying The Odd

I see no shortage of unusual decisions by galleries this month. Take Luxe Gallery, which debuts the robotic experiments of M.I.T. artist in residence Pai Lindman this Friday. Lindman creates chairs “echoing the devices used in early photographic portraiture”,  and provides video footage of a machine designed to contort the face. I guess I’ll have to see the show before making any final judgments, but I have some serious reservations. What is the value of a piece whose documentation claims only to remove the intentionality behind facial expression? What’s more the one photograph provided predictably shows the body’s resistance to the device. It looks bad.

Left: Brandon Herman, Right: Ryan Pfluger, Image copyright of the artists.

Envoy is now the gay pin up boy gallery. This month they show the work of Ryan Pfluger, who exhibits at least a few photos of scantily clad young men, shooting poses awfully close to those in American Apparel ads. This show will be followed up by Brandon Herman, who in conjunction with a number of homo erotic horror shots, also photographs a large number of men in their underwear. While both artists make good work, Brandon Herman in particular has an affinity for the overly staged and dramatic. These works are considerably less successful.

Jordan Buschur, Image copyright realform projects.

David Gibson of Article Projects has a reputation for supporting the work of emerging artists which we like, but his choices can be inconsistent. I’ll leave it to you to prejudge Jordan Buschur.