In "Meta Vision," the viewer finds two shows that are both complementary and divergent.
Meta Vision
By Aaron Krach
In "Meta Vision," the viewer finds two shows that are both complementary and divergent. Lee Whittier’s DVD videos and still images are displayed in the main gallery while Craig Coleman’s DVD videos and light boxes are exhibited in the second gallery. Coleman and Whittier first met in high school and subsequently attended college together at Florida State University. Their friendship is one that continues to this day and, though they are living far apart, their kindred interest in technology and art continues to inform their artistic output.
These artists are interested in using low technology in a modern context. In Coleman’s work, the viewer finds Joseph Cornell-like vignettes encased in resin and mounted within wood frames that are illuminated from above with incandescent and LED lights. Whittier works with elegant DVD videos, both projected and on monitors, displaying abstract colorful forms inspired by Bill Viola’s better-known work.
Coleman and Whittier subsume the technology to enable the artist’s hand to come through. Coleman’s light boxes incorporate transistor tubes, copper wire, small people and animals from a childhood train set, along with earplugs and batteries. Each scene is enhanced by a process of layering, as the "floor" may be made from a circuit board, the objects float in resin, and the photographs or graphic reproductions may loom in the background or over the front surface. The complex little vignettes are just 2.5 square inches and each vignette offers a look at the relationship between man and environment, especially as one "filters" his or her experiences as immediate activity into the annals of memory.
Whittier uses video to capture both subtle and obvious intersections and contrasts of color and shape. In the video works, he creates liquid paintings that undulate and transform, moving from one idyllic view to the next. The abstract forms found in nature derive from motifs of nature, such as grass, flowers, and the moving water of a quiet stream. Whittier accompanies the moving DVD images with still images mounted on Citra that are reminiscent of paintings with flat shinny surfaces. These depict abstracted subjects perhaps coming from outer space or purely from the imagination. The medium and large sized still images are printed as light-jet prints at just 72 DPI.
The entire show is spare in its installation, thus enhancing the effect of the works on view. Whittier’s work is seen in a bright gallery illuminated by daylight, while Coleman’s work is subdued and lit only by the ambient light given by the artworks themselves. The contrasts and the similarities in the works on view offer the visitor a unique opportunity to experience the world around them as something new, exciting, vibrant, and beautiful. Coleman and Whittier bring the visitor to a new place of understanding and perception while sharing themes that respect the individual and the environment.
META VISION
Craig Coleman and Lee Whittier
Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art
86 Walker Street, Floor Six,
New York, NY 10013
www.paulsharpegallery.com
646 613 1252
On view September 8 through October 2, gallery open Wednesday through Saturday, Noon to 6 PM and by appointment.
