by Matthew Parrish
Matthew Kucynski: You’re Apocalypse! and David Ambrose: The Braille Landscape
Pentimenti Gallery
April 21 - May 31, 2008
David Amborse (Image taken
from: http://localephemera.blogspot.com/2007/
07/real-bling-was-on-street.html)
The new show at the Pentimenti Gallery doesn't officially open until next Friday but I've taken a peak and here's what I saw: David Ambrose's daedal works are less than engaging from a distance, but look a little closer and you'll find a porous, wavy web of colors. Ambrose pierces relatively thick paper in precise or wandering lines to create a braille-like texture (one of the works is titled "Braillescape" or something similar) before releasing watercolors upon the bumpy terrain, creating a nice balance between "control and chance." Art historically, the work immediately brings to mind Lucio Fontana's holey canvases:
Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio,oil on canvas, 1964. The Rachofsky Collection.
(Image used with the courtesy of http://www.panachemag.com/
Spring_07/TheBuzz/TheCollector/The_Collector.asp)
Fontana's work, however, has more of a modernist "shock of the new" feel about it whereas Ambrose acknowledges and encourages a connection with the inherently "feminine and anonymous" history of knitting and lacework rather than the "heroic and autographic" tendencies of painting and building (paraphrasing his own words). This aspect of his work makes it more inviting and warm than ambitious and exclusive (I'm aware that this argument can be made to support the mediocre over the great but that is not the case here--Ambrose's art is both average in appearance and superior in process and philosophy). Ambrose's work successfully commingles the trendy non-monumental world, the Yayoi Kusama school of repetition, and the increasingly prevalent "fine artist" fascination with craftwork.
On a Side Note: The works at Pentimenti are more painterly and less like classical patterns than the image above which is taken from a previous show.
Also showing at the Pentimenti Gallery is Matthew Kucynski's work:
On a Side Note: The works at Pentimenti are more painterly and less like classical patterns than the image above which is taken from a previous show.
Also showing at the Pentimenti Gallery is Matthew Kucynski's work:
Green Receptionist, Mixed Media, 36" x 36"(Used with the courtesy of http://www.poolartfair.com/
pool_miami_05/exhibitors.html )
Kucynski's particular blend of blatant sexuality and surrealistic strangeness wasn't particularly intriguing and the "pop-up book" theme seemed gimmicky. Most relief-styled, protruding, or distinctly shaped paintings have this problem because the three-dimensional accentuation exhibits a lack of faith in the medium. However, his multi-colored Wizard of Oz tonality is charming and the obvious fun he had while envisioning these id-driven characterizations comes through in the work.
Thanks for reading!
Matthew Parrish
[Matthew Parrish is a grad student attending the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.]
Thanks for reading!
Matthew Parrish
[Matthew Parrish is a grad student attending the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.]
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2 comments:
why would you use an image from Kucynski from '05? isn't that from 3 years ago? I don't understand the relevance of old work for a new review.
When I visited Pentimenti, the show was in the process of being arranged. I didn't wanna take shots of the gallery disheveled, so, I decided to give the readers a taste of older work.
In retrospect, it wasn't the best choice. Have no fear, dear reader! All future reviews will feature the work in question.
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