Jeppe Hein Installation view at 303 Gallery, New York 2011
Art Fag City Associate Editor Will Brand writes about Jeppe Hein for this week’s edition of cityArts. An excerpt below:
One needs not even enter Jeppe Hein's show at 303 Gallery to understand that the artist has an interest in the gallery space: a telescopic fisheye lens mounted in 303's storefront allows a sneaky voyeuristic peek inside, but also turns the gallery upside-down, in a fittingly tongue-in-cheek introduction.
“360° Gallery Photo Edition,” a series of 24 black-and-white photographs created by rotating a camera in 15-degree increments around the gallery, continues this theme and creates dissonance between the gallery as representation and the gallery as referent; as a piece, though, it's weak. Hein's interest in the gallery is antiquated when posed alone; frankly, much of what exists to be said was said in the 1970s. Rather, it is revitalized and made relevant by his keen awareness of the gallery's residents and visitors and his keener wit. Those works that demonstrate all of these characteristics are often his best.
To read the full piece click here.
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i thought this review failed to explain why this staid show displayed “keen wit”.
You’re right that it’s not spelled out in the review. I think there’s something cruelly funny about forcing a gallery assistant to power the art, though, and in any case in that passage I was referring to his work in general.
I think all of these works qualify as witty in some sense:
http://www.johannkoenig.de/inc/index.php?n=2,1,1&art_id=4&bild_id=2053
http://www.nicolaiwallner.com/exhibitions/whilewearewaiting2009/thisartworkis.html
http://www.nicolaiwallner.com/artists/jeppe/spacevenice.html
http://www.johannkoenig.de/inc/index.php?n=2,1,1&art_id=4&bild_id=379
You’re free to disagree, but if you do I don’t want to hang out with you.
I feel you. when i saw the show no one was on the bike but i remember the lights being on.
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