Review: Op art Pops at Anton Kern – By Glenna Gordon

Mental Oyster is as much pearl as oyster. Jim Lambie’s new installation at the Anton Kern Gallery focuses on the optical effects created by repeated forms and contrasting colors.

Review: Op art Pops at Anton Kern

By Glenna Gordon

 

 

 

 

 

Mental Oyster is as much pearl as oyster. Jim Lambie’s new installation at the Anton Kern Gallery focuses on the optical effects created by repeated forms and contrasting colors. The entire gallery is covered in Lambie’s humble materials, making its installation one of the strongest elements. Also included are several sculptural objects amidst the dizzying stripes. Eyes enclosed in electrical tape frames, watching you as you move through the gallery, circumnavigate the wall. The harsh texture of the tape makes the eyes seem both impenetrable and vulnerable, a window to disconnected souls imprisoned in Lambie’s striped environment.

While the prison references may imply a harsh tone, Lambie counters that element with sequined poles and Technicolor tires. A bright pink surface is the coat rack for several purses covered in pieces of broken mirror. They fragment your image as you peer into them. Your eyes become as disconnected from your visage as the mirror shatters your image, just as the disembodied floating eyes on the walls are not grounded in any person or place.

The entire gallery is covered in Lambie’s humble materials, making its installation one of the strongest elements. Also included are several sculptural objects amidst the dizzying stripes. Eyes enclosed in electrical tape frames, watching you as you move through the gallery, circumnavigate the wall. The harsh texture of the tape makes the eyes seem both impenetrable and vulnerable, a window to disconnected souls imprisoned in Lambie’s striped environment.

While the prison references may imply a harsh tone, Lambie counters that element with sequined poles and Technicolor tires. A bright pink surface is the coat rack for several purses covered in pieces of broken mirror. They fragment your image as you peer into them. Your eyes become as disconnected from your visage as the mirror shatters your image, just as the disembodied floating eyes on the walls are not grounded in any person or place.