The opening night of the Setups Situations Solutions group exhibition at POPOPSTUDIOS, featuring work from the I AGAINST I series.
The latest exhibition at the newly expanded popopstudios featured new works by the trio of John Cox, Heino Schmidt and Blue Curry. As always the work offered many interesting directions to guide the wandering mind through the collision of mixed media and traditional techniques like painting and pencil drawing. All three artists featured new work that seemed to be addressing or responding to different ideas with equal levels of wit and invention.
Heino Schmidt’s Six of One, half a Dozen of the Other was a very satisfying combination of shaky dashboard video driving through Nassau’s streets and some well executed line drawings of a rugged looking man in 360 degrees. Heino articulated just enough to give the drawing character but still allowing you to fill in the details. Check out the video to see what I mean. This has got to be the most moving piece of Heino’s that I have experienced. i will have to go back and watch the whole video loop.
Blue Curry’s video installation REPAIRWORK traces the history of a statue that was unveiled in the 1800’s in Nassau to great celebrations. Within a few years the holiday honoring the man in the statue was taken off the books and a few years later the statue landed in the Bahamas National Library storage. Blue discovered the statue’s sorry state in 2001 and began to reconstruct its lost history. The research reveals many details from a Tourist’s comment post on an internet forum to the story of colonial Nassau. It is as if new technologies are helping to reboot our discarded histories by re-infusing it’s artifacts with meaning - or irony, I am not sure which direction Blue might have been leaning. Reading the timeline that he had printed while watching the video make-over is essential as well as both amusing and thought provoking.
John Cox continues in his intriguing exploration within the I Against I series. Four of the six canvases this time do not feature words and simply offer shadowy sea greens and low res blue images which convey a much less confrontational stance than previous works in this series. The absence of textual symbolisms to guide (or distract) the viewer gives the pieces a soothing calm. The final two pieces are a study in opposites. I Against I‘s cold blues and shocking night-safety writing is a cluster of clashing energies while Champion is a soft mesh of tranquility. This piece speaks to me of resolution. As if the first piece when you enter is the first punch that starts the fight. Through the four large muted blue and green canvases, we get a few rounds of give and take that engage you and then suddenly the knock out punch: Champion. With the figure of Cox now buried beneath an cloudy mix of zen floral shapes, the overall image is beautifully abstract and decidedly more feminine in tone than anything I have seen in Cox’s previous work. It will be interesting to see where this series is headed given that the oppositional ideas that it seems to symbolize require both a winner and a loser.
Once again the work from all three artists was powerful, interesting and executed with a high degree of technical skill and the new exhibition space really allows you more room to take in the scale of the larger pieces while also inviting interesting juxtapositions between the different mediums and subject matter.
by: seeward
The exhibit 'Exit' which recently opened at Popop Studios was personally, not as good as I had hoped for. Consisting of the usual Popop crew, excluding Michael Edwards, the show was reaching for a new level of contemporary Bahamian art. Purposefully opening the night after the internationally acclaimed exhibit 'Funky Nassau' at the National Art Gallery Of The Bahamas (NAGB). Funky Nassau's success proved to the outside world that Bahamian art is on par with art internationally. Exit then using Funky Nassau's success as a platform to go beyond, produced the idea that Bahamian art can now change because of this new door being opened. The small community fear of being inferior is now exiting as contemporary Bahamian art makes a stand to prove itself to the world. However, this wonderfully thought of idea was not translated through the presentation of the works and the works themselves. On entering the gallery space my attention was stolen by a very large 116" x 90" painting by JASON BENNETT. Originally being overwhelmed by its size in the limited space of Popop, the work 'Twister For Cats' shows change from Bennett's usual scale, presentation and to some extent, style. Taking the works on paper to a new level by using not pre-bought art paper but pages of a book, and layering these pages; which is mildly refreshing. Thankfully the usual targets and contour lines were dismissed for this piece giving the viewer a new experience. However, the lack of consideration for the condition of the piece (i.e. the paper bending at its joints) could be a negative for a buyer, since the piece still presents itself in a saleable way. Also, the not so flattering "COB" style of framing appears to be a later thought and confines the density of the piece. Even though Bennett's work appears to be evolving, 'Twister For Cats' seems too pretentious for the space, and appears to be stuck in-between a state of simplicity and completeness. The artist consisting of the most real estate within the exhibit was abstract painter TOBY LUNN. His work consisting of nine wood stain and enamel paintings belonged not so much in Popop Studios as they did a Lyford Cay beach house. His once engaging technique of movement has become nothing short of repetitive and bland. The work combined with its traditional style of hanging and lack of creative display led to a very disappointing product, particularly considering the initial goal of the exhibit. The piece 'Society' by JOHN COX, appears to only be a sample of something about to come. The conceptual side of the piece remains strong, however with the edition of size as well as languages it successfully expands the idea further. Given the change in scale however, the piece now wishes it were larger than it is, making it appear incomplete. 'Society' is more of an experience than it is something you view. The work feels as though it wants to be more sculptural and interactive because of it having different dimensions and so many parts; making me wish that the wall would have continued until it hit the other corner of the room, and even possibly been on the floor and higher up the wall than it was to make the viewer feel encompassed by the piece. Even having all of the cubes except for one, displayed on the wall created a more distant gallery experience and not an interactive one. The three dimensional quality of the cubes become more relief and less sculptural when on the wall making me unsure of the encounter Cox wanted the viewer to experience. 'Via Someone Else's Mouth' by HEINO SCHMID has many qualities of contemporary art on an international level. Based around ideas, appearing to do with identity and intimate experiences the piece ventures in a new direction for Bahamian art. Unlike the other pieces in the exhibit, 'Via Someone Else's Mouth' is documentation of a representation of an idea and is not based so much on visual aesthetics. The piece itself is strong and works well with the original idea of what the show wanted to accomplish. Though it could have been displayed differently for the 'Exit' show. Due to the piece being heavy on the video installation, where viewers need to be able to watch and listen the space given to the piece was unfit. The low television screens created an uncomfortable space for viewers that felt irrelevant to the intent of the piece. Also the proximity to BLUE CURRY's 'Potcake' made the sound levels clash and the experience of watching Schmid's piece became difficult. BLUE CURRY does it again with a well thought through, surprising and engaging piece of work. Potcake is nothing short of a Bahamian Icon made immortal by the piece 'Potcake'. The now popular found object art strikes again. The strength of the piece comes from the authentic nature of the trolley itself as well as the cleverly placed camera and display of the camera. The video of Potcakes daily journey on the streets of Nassau through the eyes of the Iconic object itself, using an old television set that could be believed to even be in Potcake's trolley to begin with, the piece elevates the person/object we all know giving him importance. Making the question asked by the piece both engaging as well as relevant to the time, "Where does the Disneylandification of it all end?" Nevertheless, unlike the rest of the works in the exhibition where the presentation was too traditional or galleryized the grand trolley itself could have used the galleryification and been elevated on a plinth giving more prominence to the piece. by Jonathan Murray
The most effective way for me to articulate this series of work is compartmentalize the process. I separate my relationship with piece in two parts, one part teacher one part student. To connect the two parts I will use four simple components Content, Process, Materials and Presentation to bridge the bridge the gap.
CONTENT
The main content of the piece is found in the title of the work which is ‘How Much Do You Love Me’ but found in the piece is the response ‘This Is How Much I Love You!’ The piece communicates by using an extracted part of an intimate dialogue (with my spouse). Where one party looks to quantify or validate the others love for oneself. The piece functions differently depending on which character you choose to be. At its core the exchange is at best cliché’ and a bit embarrassing but true. Usually the response to ‘how much do you love me? Is a suggestion of something infinite like the ‘stars in the sky’ or the ‘sand on the beach’. The main focus (content) of the piece is to personify the idea of the infinite measure. Using love as the reference it allows the subject love to be defined and redefined over and over again. The idea of love encompasses so many things at once. The immediate theme of the work is personal and at first hokey, and a bit embarrassing but later has much broader and less obvious implications.
The work redefines love as honor, respect and dedication to a particular person, or any person, or anything, or any action. It doesn’t only suggest infinity in an additive way; but also addresses the subject of love in terms of tolerance and discipline. Also the piece investigates love within the context of an intimate relationship. As well as social or political relationship to society and lastly a measure of validation yourself against yourself. I chose only to use the text to keep the imagination of the viewer as universal as possible.
PROCESS
The earlier versions of the piece were silkscreen on double-sided 15ft. canvas. The paper cut silkscreen created a static texture, which before long became almost unreadable. Having the phrase ‘this is how much I love you!’ gradually deconstruct then become clear again helps reinforce the abstract nature of the subject while taking the response way beyond a normal level of attention in to a something more hypnotic or like a hallucination. Each phrase is printed individually so the pattern doesn’t get noticeably redundant. I thought this might allow the viewer to specify his own interpretation of the work and also add to a kind of sadistic/obsessive act of printing this pattern line by line.
MATERIAL
With this version of the work being 100 ft. long I wanted to use a material that would as the work traveled appear lighter and lighter and that could layer to create density. The plastic visquene seemed appropriate because it was translucent which allowed both natural and artificial light to participate with piece. I want to appropriate the site specificity of each presentation regardless of the length. I spray painted the same stencil I used for the silkscreen to produce the phrase. Also the spray paint adhered to the plastic much better than the printing ink. Also it gave me almost the same static texture that the silkscreen provided.
PRESENTATION
The major component of the piece is the scroll itself. The installation can find new formations depending on the venue. I have created a structure inspired by a newspaper printing press which soles purpose is the exaggerate the length of the work allowing it at times even to integrate with the ceiling. This also gives the viewer to view the scroll for more dynamic points of view. The physicality of the presentation suggests that there is no end to the work.
CONCLUSION
These four components work in collaboration with each other with a single goal of sparking curiosity and hopefully evoking a sense of the immediate and familiar about our feeling of love for each other, for society and for ourselves.
By John Cox
What do you do with a 6ft x 10ft painting?
If you’re John Cox you create from everything around you and you give your gestures room to breathe, despite their breadth. You fill in life’s blank spaces. You create something that becomes an object in itself, something no one has seen before.
“I’m trying to create new things,” Cox told Arts&Culture, comparing the process by which he creates his large scale works to discovering a naturally formed object like a piece of driftwood on the beach.
“But the thing is it’s not a representation of something else; it’s just an object. It’s an arbitrary object that...is not meant to be representative of something else. It’s supposed to be what it is.”
Cox’s show “Large Paintings” will open officially at the Central Bank on Thursday, Oct. 11.
The show features works from both the artist’s collection and a private collection, created between 1998 and 2004. Cox was offered a space that was available in the gallery’s calendar and thought about how he could give context to his work.
“I thought, well okay, this is a good way for me to screen out works that I’d like to show, and one of the things I guess I have been known for over the last couple of years is making these really, really big paintings,” said Cox.
Then came seven of his gigantic paintings — paintings that you can step into and bathe in their emotions, their expressions. The gallery, with its high ceiling and open balcony, is a great space for works of this size.
“That space works for those paintings because you get to look at them from 20 to 30 feet away, and that’s really when you get to feel how the work comes together,” Cox said.
“The paintings do have a double quality in that you can read them from far and get a sense about them,
and then as you get close to them, you can pick through them and look at little markings.”
At the exhibition, a taped interview in which Cox talks about the challenges of creating and placing large scale works plays on a small television screen near the foot of the stairs in the gallery. The interview plays continuously.
Creating large scale works “comes with a whole other set of situations and challenges and dynamics that sort of seem like a very simple thing,” said Cox. But the “scale of the work does present a unique set of circumstances that you have to deal with.”
The circumstances vary from actually making the works to finding space large enough to accommodate them. Cox said that placing the works, which become like sculptures due to the size, is like working with an architect on the placement of a house on a piece of property.
“I think that there are things that we don’t really pay much attention to. Those kinds of sensibilities come into making works that are large.”
The works, done in house paint, incorporate objects such as fabric, wood, a light bulb, drawing you into the artist’s sphere as much as it opens your own.
Cox said that his influences are as wide as his gestures. “I’m really very influenced by things other than visual art. I’m a big fan of electronic music. I like jazz music. I sort of enjoy even the television; there’s something about the way you can flip through the channels and you can have things going on,” he said, recalling an experience of watching several television screens at once, all airing different events and channeling separate messages that were disparate but oddly cohesive at the same time.
“Most of the times when people aren’t paying attention that’s when I like to pay attention.”
By: THEA RUTHERFORD
The Nassau Guardian
Dragon Slayer
Fight Poster
Victory is Mine
Faith
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Plastic sheeting, plywood,aluminum rods and spray paint
Various dimensions
2005
Installed at Popop Gallery
Plastic sheeting, plywood,aluminum rods and spray paint
Various dimensions
2005
Installed at Popop Gallery