Installation view from Group Exhibition. Image via: Metro Pictures.
My latest piece is up at the L Magazine.
The worst realized bat idea in art this month coincides with the release of the latest Batman movie The Dark Knight. Part of Metro Pictures’ Group Exhibition, Andreas Hofer attaches wooden bat wings to a giant armoire he titles, For a Pleasant Room. In a quick viewing I might have fallen for the piece — after all, I love Batman — but the two eyes hollowed out of furniture’s center pretty much eliminated that possibility. Through these slits a viewer can peer inside the sculpture, offering up either a variation on unwearable costume art or a “humorous” window into the empty soul of the bat. Neither cliché sold me.
For better or worse, the work is among a random selection of art gallery goers will view this summer in countless Chelsea group shows. The exhibition For a Pleasant Room was part of, featured a number of oversized works — a large monotone gray square painted directly on the wall by Louise Lawler, and a few messy Sterling Ruby sculptures, for example — none with much relationship to each other past their shared physical space.
To read the full review click here.
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I feel compelled to defend the bat piece only because it made my day last time I did the rounds in Chelsea. I do not share your objection to the eyes perhaps this is because they seemed so violently carved into the wood. Their roughness not only made a nice contrast to rest of the piece, which is so refined in terms of craftsmanship, but also because they seemed to balance out the humor and whimsy with a sense of real uneasiness.
I feel compelled to defend the bat piece only because it made my day last time I did the rounds in Chelsea. I do not share your objection to the eyes perhaps this is because they seemed so violently carved into the wood. Their roughness not only made a nice contrast to rest of the piece, which is so refined in terms of craftsmanship, but also because they seemed to balance out the humor and whimsy with a sense of real uneasiness.
that bat chest was included in his metro pictures show in spring ’07… that was a weird show. i will link to some photos at my name…
that bat chest was included in his metro pictures show in spring ’07… that was a weird show. i will link to some photos at my name…
Saul: Yeah, for me the way they were carved out of the wood didn’t work and it just seemed like any carving technique alternative I could think of wasn’t going to solve the problem – they would still look like hollow eyes.
Martin: I didn’t see it last year. I suppose you noticed the artist used very cheap wood for the wings and then poorly painted a fake wood veneer on the surface?
Saul: Yeah, for me the way they were carved out of the wood didn’t work and it just seemed like any carving technique alternative I could think of wasn’t going to solve the problem – they would still look like hollow eyes.
Martin: I didn’t see it last year. I suppose you noticed the artist used very cheap wood for the wings and then poorly painted a fake wood veneer on the surface?
no, i didn’t notice. i never looked at it up close. i was mostly looking at all the comic-book references in the paintings.
no, i didn’t notice. i never looked at it up close. i was mostly looking at all the comic-book references in the paintings.
cheesy cut-out eyes and all, i think i may need that armoire for my living room. my wedding china will look terrific in it…
cheesy cut-out eyes and all, i think i may need that armoire for my living room. my wedding china will look terrific in it…
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