Memories of Youth, Real and Imagined
By Andrew LaVallee
Ryan Humphrey, "Leave the Motor Running" and Laura London, "Almost True Tales" at Caren Golden Fine Art
May 21-July 16, 2004
Two exhibitions by Ryan Humphrey and Laura London, one photographic and the other installation-based, alternatively reflect on and stage youth at this gem of a gallery, tucked away in the labyrinthine West Chelsea Arts Building.
Ryan Humphrey’s "Leave the Motor Running" uses found objects, personal belongings from his Ashtabula, Ohio childhood and fashioned accoutrements to both remind you of decades past while giving you a sensibility for tongue-in-cheek future hipsterdom. "Great Days" amasses 87.5 found and annihilated skateboards in a display that lifts up their underside to show the beating that they’ve taken over the years. The disembodied voice intoning "Skate or Die!" in the old-school Nintendo game may ring through your head as you wonder how the skater’s shins looked after walking away from whatever put just the back third of a board on this wall. The designs, logos and stickers have worn away in places, leaving hints of personality and corporate identity: Outer Limit. Special Sauce. Im [sic] Fixing Myself.
"Epic Battle Scenes, Giant Car Crashes and The Good Guy Always Wins," an engrossing 900-pound Knaack toolbox stuffed with Humphrey’s childhood, is a visual gift to anyone that made sound effects while "flying" her Millennium Falcon, brandished a Clash of the Titans lunchbox in his elementary school cafeteria, twisted the heads off a Human Torch action figure and remembers the shock of hearing a swear word in the Transformers movie. It’s hard to pull off nostalgia for an era that is so frequently, ironically and cynically represented in pop culture, but Humphrey’s take on it is attentive and caring–more engaging than any ‘80s recollection that VH-1 wrings out on a seemingly hourly basis.
The other thing that distinguishes Humphrey’s old-school tributes, from Public Enemy-powered "Honky Spaceship" to the spiky helmets for Japanese hipsters, is the sense that it’s coming from inside the scene. There’s a different result when a subculture produces its own product, instead of someone interpreting, depicting and attempting to represent it.
Is it anatomically correct to describe an image of a woman as "balls out"? If so, Laura London can claim it, not only because her work captures the toughness that girls sometimes need to don, but also its openness lets you see through it. In "Almost True Tales," a series of color photographs of punk rock teenage girls, you literally look through the layers of attitude and mascara into cautious eyes. The moodiness of the shots keeps them from looking jaded or self-indulgent, two sentiments that dangerously go hand-in-hand with disaffected rockers. Despite the staging of the photos, there’s something secret about them–the girls look back at you defiantly, but maybe wonder if you know what they’re thinking at the same time.
Both exhibits run to July 16, 2004 at Caren Golden Fine Art on 526 West 26th Street, Suite 215. For more information on future exhibits, please visit
