g-module
|
Double-Edged Abstraction
- Additional Information -
The exhibition Double-Edged Abstraction celebrates g-module's six years of establishment since opening in January 2001. This period was devoted to a singular vision of movements emerging from the American contemporary art scene. Assembling works related to the idea of a 'double-edged abstraction,' the conditions followed during this phase of the gallery's existence appears explicitly: the endeavour to present a selection of artists willing to narrate the history of abstract painting alternatively.
The 'double edge' in the exhibition is a gathering of nearly a dozen drawings, paintings, photographs and videos combining formal introspection and narrative. Michael Rodriguez and Andrew Chesler emblematically propose different kinds of re-contextualization: Rodriguez erects an alternative framework for abstract expressionism, whereas Chesler refigures abstract formalism from a mellowed, caricaturial perspective. Lisa Roy Sachs' photographs prove relevant amidst this painterly ensemble. Untitled (Star) takes into account the tradition of still life, by highlighting the iconic nature of representation. What's this symbol through which we perceive the inner world referring to? Lisa Roy Sachs' works concentrate on hyperconstructed, hence hermetic interiors, wherein the power of design meets the aggression of kitsch. It is likewise in the case of Rico Gatson's video works, which g-module will present for the first time in France, where images taken from films fold into themselves and are reorganised into a kaleidoscopic pattern. The abstract spaces figured in these works fall outside the threshold of psychedelic visual experience.
The different narrative paths often utilized come from science-fiction; they subvert scientific imagery and technological iconography, showing, all at once, their specificity. Gordon Terry displays his motifs on a neutral surface as would a scientist with his objects of study. Manipulating the medium with the delicacy of a taxidermist, he simultaneously invokes the practice of alchemy and a form of pictorial anatomy. In the case of artists like Vargas-Suarez Universal, Daniel Zeller or Marsha Cottrell, this visual experience at the limits of delirium becomes the constructive principle of landscapes, even if the approach of each artist follows a different principle: inspired by astronomic research in the case of Vargas-Suarez Universal's work, mixing cartography and biology in Zeller's, or Cottrell's exploration into depths of blank space via the accumulation of debris in cyberspace. With similar intentions, Angie Drakopoulos questions the possibility of accessing both spatial and mystic experiences of infinity through painting, while accessing coded language through her journeys inside the internet environment.
|