PRESS
ARTNET MAGAZINE SAID of REALFORM & LAURA FAYER: Independent curator David Gibson oversees what may be Brooklyn's most heavily-traveled, if smallest, exhibition venue: the display window in the vestibule of "the Mall" on Bedford Avenue. Called Realform Project Space (in acknowledgement of the building's original use as the Realform Girdle Factory) it plays host this month to the compact but intense and densely worked paintings of Laura Fayer, whose materially inventive and process-oriented work are in their own way no less meticulous than Dartley's, just a whole lot calmer. The show, called "Rapt," is on view through June 6. In response to compositional contingencies as they unfold in the making of each piece, the paintings are developed through an open-ended, intuitive process of stamping and stenciling in acrylic on rice paper, which is then adhered to canvas. Bands of roughly parallel lines like eccentric racetracks or wandering musical staffs curve and fold back upon themselves, creating a shallow space that is nevertheless grand in scale. Even the very smallest pieces, at 10 x 8 inches, convey a landscape-like expansiveness. The generally muted palette takes a back seat to the muscularity of the drawing component: Borrowed Luck (52 x 22 inches, 2003) suggests the forward-leaning space and elevated point of view of panoramic Japanese scroll painting, a characteristic that may be traced to the artist's childhood in Japan. Fayer is an MFA candidate at Hunter College, but her work's demure self-possession distinguishes her attitude from the meretricious self-importance of much student work. Prices are $600 to $1500 (Stephen Maine, June 10, 2004)
WAGMAG REVIEW SAID of GELAH PENN: This installation might make you re-string your thinking about the possibilities of drawing. Contained within the display, window Penn uses mundane materials like fishing line and vinyl lanyards to create webs that divide and demark the volumetric space. The skeins of Pollock are actualized in three dimensions, with spiraling knotted tangles of synthetically tinted line that range coloristicly from faint lime green to grape soda to shinny black. Fine lines tie into thick, jutting lines pause to meander in decorative swirls and thickets. Perhaps one of the most pragmatically provocative uses of this unique space yet. (May 1, 2005)
NY ARTS MAGAZINE SAID of YULIYA LANINA: “Play With Me!”—it sounds like the entreaty of a bossy child. In this scorched and blackened landscape set around a tumorous tree, creepy baby dolls, human-headed birds and human-vegetable hybrids play out perverse games. Looking upon Yuliya Lanina’s Boschian orgy, it seems at times innocent, at times twisted. These feelings never quite resolve, but remain in a kind of sustained cognitive dissonance. The scene may evoke queasy laughter, a detached feeling of bemusement and/or disgust, but the title says “Play With Me”—we are asked to enter into this scene with a sense of childlike wonder and abandon...This imaginary world seems to represent the world we live in, where violence emerges from the most infantile impulses, and where softness and sweetness keep thriving amid all the darkness and horror. How are we to live in such a place? Yuliya Lanina’s answer is to assert the childlike spirit of curiosity and joy: Come out and play! (Fred Hatt, 2007)
WAGMAG REVIEW SAID of MARY CATANIA MURPHY: It's the little window that could. For any one walking the central stretch of Bedford Avenue these days there's a jewel box of a display that you'll want to take a moment and enjoy right in the heart of the 'Burg. Using gold leaf and mad magenta shag carpet, Mary Katherine Murphy has painstakingly transformed this scruffy little show window into a fem-fantasy, complete with strappy high heels, bronze angel wings, and a grouping of pictures that depict various examples of today's Glamour Girls. These subjects seem tailor-made for Murphy's loose yet confident style. Her ample curving brush strokes accentuating features like overly plump lips and huge gazing eyes. Orchid (2008) a smallish piece features a head in three quarter profile that seems to inflate against the margins of the canvas. The Orchid, behind her ear, and the gaudy earring contrast against a face that, notwithstanding its bobbed nose, has a form that appears as ample as a Mycenaean fertility goddess. Despite a superficial beauty, these ladies, with their blank stares, seem about as deep as the paint they're fabricated with.(May 8, 2008)
THE BROOKLYN RAIL SAID of REALFORM: "David Gibson, one of the hardest working curators in New York, spent five years organizing over 40 shows at what must have appeared as a uniquely self-effacing venue called Realform Project Space, a display window at 218 Bedford Avenue. Despite the presentation area being about the size of a large aquarium, 5 by 7 by 2 1/2 feet, many of the featured artists have gone on to established careers, and several are represented by reputable galleries. Stories like these inspire the realizations that where one starts out is less important than where one is headed; that initiative, creativity, and the courage to take a risk (and perhaps fail), are just as important as a cash grubstake; and that creative individuals are indeed in control of their own destinies and artistic futures. (James Kalm, 2011)
WAGMAG REVIEW SAID of GELAH PENN: This installation might make you re-string your thinking about the possibilities of drawing. Contained within the display, window Penn uses mundane materials like fishing line and vinyl lanyards to create webs that divide and demark the volumetric space. The skeins of Pollock are actualized in three dimensions, with spiraling knotted tangles of synthetically tinted line that range coloristicly from faint lime green to grape soda to shinny black. Fine lines tie into thick, jutting lines pause to meander in decorative swirls and thickets. Perhaps one of the most pragmatically provocative uses of this unique space yet. (May 1, 2005)
NY ARTS MAGAZINE SAID of YULIYA LANINA: “Play With Me!”—it sounds like the entreaty of a bossy child. In this scorched and blackened landscape set around a tumorous tree, creepy baby dolls, human-headed birds and human-vegetable hybrids play out perverse games. Looking upon Yuliya Lanina’s Boschian orgy, it seems at times innocent, at times twisted. These feelings never quite resolve, but remain in a kind of sustained cognitive dissonance. The scene may evoke queasy laughter, a detached feeling of bemusement and/or disgust, but the title says “Play With Me”—we are asked to enter into this scene with a sense of childlike wonder and abandon...This imaginary world seems to represent the world we live in, where violence emerges from the most infantile impulses, and where softness and sweetness keep thriving amid all the darkness and horror. How are we to live in such a place? Yuliya Lanina’s answer is to assert the childlike spirit of curiosity and joy: Come out and play! (Fred Hatt, 2007)
WAGMAG REVIEW SAID of MARY CATANIA MURPHY: It's the little window that could. For any one walking the central stretch of Bedford Avenue these days there's a jewel box of a display that you'll want to take a moment and enjoy right in the heart of the 'Burg. Using gold leaf and mad magenta shag carpet, Mary Katherine Murphy has painstakingly transformed this scruffy little show window into a fem-fantasy, complete with strappy high heels, bronze angel wings, and a grouping of pictures that depict various examples of today's Glamour Girls. These subjects seem tailor-made for Murphy's loose yet confident style. Her ample curving brush strokes accentuating features like overly plump lips and huge gazing eyes. Orchid (2008) a smallish piece features a head in three quarter profile that seems to inflate against the margins of the canvas. The Orchid, behind her ear, and the gaudy earring contrast against a face that, notwithstanding its bobbed nose, has a form that appears as ample as a Mycenaean fertility goddess. Despite a superficial beauty, these ladies, with their blank stares, seem about as deep as the paint they're fabricated with.(May 8, 2008)
THE BROOKLYN RAIL SAID of REALFORM: "David Gibson, one of the hardest working curators in New York, spent five years organizing over 40 shows at what must have appeared as a uniquely self-effacing venue called Realform Project Space, a display window at 218 Bedford Avenue. Despite the presentation area being about the size of a large aquarium, 5 by 7 by 2 1/2 feet, many of the featured artists have gone on to established careers, and several are represented by reputable galleries. Stories like these inspire the realizations that where one starts out is less important than where one is headed; that initiative, creativity, and the courage to take a risk (and perhaps fail), are just as important as a cash grubstake; and that creative individuals are indeed in control of their own destinies and artistic futures. (James Kalm, 2011)
Comments