Andrew Neumann at the Axiom Center, Cristina Toro at LaMontagne Gallery, Taylor Davis at Samson Projects
By EVAN J. GARZA | October 23, 2008
Cristina Toro, In my room |
“Andrew Neumann: The Last Picture Show” at Axiom Center for New and Experimental Media, 141 Green St, Jamaica Plain | October 24–December 13 | 617.676.5904
“Cristina Toro: Throw Away The Lights and Say Of What You See In The Dark” at LaMontagne Gallery, 555 East Second St, South Boston | October 24–November 26 | 617.464.4640
"Taylor Davis: No Work About” at Samson Projects, 450 Harrison Ave, Storefront 63, Boston | October 31–December 13 | 617.357.7177 |
Boston’s fall art season is in full swing, and contemporary spaces all over the city are eager to follow up on their fall kickoff shows. Opening Friday at the Axiom Center for New and Experimental Media, Boston artist Andrew Neumann’s “THE LAST PICTURE SHOW,” his first solo exhibit in town in nearly two years, combines a slew of wall-mounted sculptures with multi-channel video components. As usual, Neumann is seeking to give sculpture a new context, but here single images (including floral references and even a looped clip from Casablanca) are strewn and manipulated across a multitude of screens and displayed on motionless panels, so that the motion of the image is the sculpture’s “kinetic” quality.Also on Friday, exponentially larger works of a far more opulent nature will be on view at LaMontagne Gallery in Southie. Rich in Turkish and Persian influences, “CRISTINA TORO: THROW AWAY THE LIGHTS AND SAY OF WHAT YOU SEE IN THE DARK” offers intricate acrylic paintings featuring delicate spiders, collections of polka dots, owls, romantic portraiture, and an infinite cast of colorful hominoid creatures. A handful of paintings are installed on multiple panels; several works reveal patterns of highly symmetrical color and line. “The symmetry in these paintings is not about two separate entities,” says Davis in an artist’s statement, “but rather like the patterned wings of a moth or the sky reflected in a body of water — they are parts of a single organism.” Toro often makes use of near-kaleidoscopic repetition, in a way that recalls Eastern textiles and tapestries, but with an appropriate playfulness and absurdity.
Likewise on the subject of the absurd, and taking cues from less ornately crafted items, the new body of work from Taylor Davis — which opens at Samson Projects beginning October 31 — is anything but romantic (and delightfully so). “NO WORK ABOUT” is her second solo show in the space, this time with a new sculptural vocabulary in tow. In recent years, Davis has seemed rooted in a kind of cold yet surprisingly pleasant anti-formalism, crafting such commonplace materials as plywood and bags of sand into newly defined spaces. Her new work remains dedicated to her investigation of the mundane, but it includes text and select prints.
On the Web
Axiom Center for New and Experimental Media: www.axiomart.org
LaMontagne Gallery: www.lamontagnegallery.com
Samson Projects: www.samsonprojects.com
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