~DAN COLEN & NATE LOWMAN/WET PAIN
DAN COLEN & NATE LOWMAN – ‘WET PAIN’ – aka – ‘CLO$ING DOWN $ALE’
MARCH 28 – APRIL 26, 2008
MACCARONE GALLERY in collaboration with PERES PROJECTS Berlin/Los Angeles
MACCARONE GALLERY – 630 GREENWICH ST – WEST VILLAGE – NYC
‘WET PAIN’ = STATIC ELECTRICITY
This is an interesting exhibit in terms of how static it plays out – especially for an exhibit that aspires to be so in flux. Even the title seems to have been changed at some point, the show being called ‘CLO$ING DOWN $ALE’ on the invite/poster & now, ‘WET PAIN’ on the gallery website !!
It was RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA who made the momentarily startling and absolutely correct observation, when happened upon in the show on a recent Saturday – (see previous post) –
that for a ‘slacker’ aspired show of spontaneous & deconstructionist ambiance – actually everything – every element of the show – had a deliberate and controlled placement & final visual effect. even the cardboard boxes supposedly jumbled into the window and the clothes seemingly picked thru and randomly arrayed on the metal clothes racks. This is not a value judgement – nor a critical assessment – its just an interesting and ironic fact. (after all, static can be electric !!) Particularly given the source. though it might have been a critical assessment by Rirkrit – in his mind. It’s compelling to contemplate the paradox: how casual and thrown-together/at-the-moment, in-the-moment, organic – Rirkrit’s installations are – even though they are generally speaking much bigger and more involved productions, such as re-assembling an apartment, or re-creating a Thai Kitchen performance/installation, and actually sheds a more intimate light on Rirkrit’s own work – in that – the element of spontaneous placement & organization – is actually – probably – very much more of a carefully considered (and beautiful element) of the overall design – than one might have formerly realized . . . and, easy to overlook, or under-estimate in the over-all schematic impact.
Its kind of funny to think of the paradox – that Rirkrit’s academic & intellectual or polemic leanings, produce work that seems freely, really – organically – is the best word – evolved structures, rather than deliberately hyper-designed ambiences – and, the seemingly random thrown together casual ‘slacker’ output of ‘WET PAIN’ – especially as defined by the little narrative story, presented as a ‘stage play/theater’ script’ that accompanies the show,
(see: gallery website/PRESS RELEASE/’WET PAIN’)
assembled by DAN COLEN and NATE LOWMAN – has such a careful and static rendering.
In retrospect, that ‘static’ placement constitutes an interesting, invisible torque – to how these 2 artists are trying to make a statement about their particular brand of culture – celebrity tabloids, street smarts, male angst & hard partying – almost in direct opposition to Rirkrit’s ‘cultural’ territory – which tends to be more of a global ‘higher’ ground projection. kind of like The National Enquirer vs. The New York Times !!
‘WET PAIN’S’ static dynamic also helps the exhibit manage a kind of artistic ‘get-over’ – 2 hard partying guys – who just managed by the skin-of-their-teeth to pull off a full fledged exhibit in such a huge & serious exhibition space – while actually interpreting the space in a deviously deliberate, and yet, seemingly raw way. The stark empty spaces between the sparse works is actually very fine tuned. or at least they hoped to hell, you’d think so . . the whole idea being to be ultra stylish and ambitious – while seeming casually at play.
. . . in ‘WET PAIN’ (get it ? – ‘WET PAIN-T’) – DAN COLEN and NATE LOWMAN by playing the creative ‘chaos’ element – low-profile and very contained . . just like dropping that extra ‘T’ – achieve a kind of static ‘electricity’ . . and succeed as this generation’s ULTIMATE ‘POSERS’.
this is an archival RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA installation shot – ‘untitled (Demonstration No. 3)’, 2001
installation, van, diverse utensils, 8 monitors – on the videos there were sequences of the artist’s journey/IMAGE COURTESY:YOKOHAMA TRIENNALE 2001
pix from the current MACCARONE exhibit: DAN COLEN & NATE LOWMAN – ‘WET PAIN’:
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA tours the DAN COLEN/NATE LOWMAN collaboration – ‘WET PAIN’ ….
the boxes could be seen from the street – at the bottom of the big display windows
the view from the street
the show’s over-size posters in the window. what we’re trying to get at – devilishly deliberate detail in the ‘spontaneously’ effected lettering, which becomes ‘static’ design in the repeat !!
the first view of the installation
a traveler’s ‘sunshade’ !!
“dude its about your mama”
“Dude, you got the joke wrong”
“LIFE’S A BEACH”
“PEACE, MAN”
Jaguar, electronics and sound system, Christmas tree
a jumble of home-made video loops on small monitors & assorted electronics filled the interior haphazardly, seemingly held together by packing tape.
one of the small interior monitors spooled a Mexican band – while a Spanish street beat/sound loop played
in another room, in the vast MACCARONE space – “it’s about rape”
detail, bottom previous painting – “damn!”
“STOP & THINK”
“Easy Japanesy”, 2008, Steel I-beam. metal, tire, aluminum rim, drywall, dimensions variable … drywall? guess, therefore it comes with the crashed-in wall !!!
see: recent pix of DAN COLEN & NATE LOWMAN, RYAN McGINLEY OPENING, APRIL 3, 2008
MACCARONE