| Having weathered what appears to be the deep end of the economic downturn, Chelsea is trying its best to dig its fingernails to into that crusty upper-layer NY Art scene status. It just so happens that hot young artists, along with those with more refined sensibilities still prefer to be shown in their large, raw, once-industrial spaces. Regardless of your take on the issue, the Chadwicks haven’t noticed. They’ve been busy keeping a watchful eye on the horizon for pirates. |  |
“Adhering strictly to a theme of seafaring adventure and works accompanied by text loaded with a puzzling lexicon of nautical jargon, the artists turn their deep family history into an historical narrative cleverly bordering on the absurd.”
The Chadwicks, Furling the Spanker: Masterworks from the Chadwicks’ Nautical Collection, 2011. Installation view. Photo credit: Etienne Frossard. Courtesy of Winkleman Gallery.
Furling the Spanker: Masterworks from the Chadwicks’ Nautical Collection
Matthew Hassell
Having weathered what appears to be the deep end of the economic downturn, Chelsea is trying its best to dig its fingernails to into that crusty upper-layer NY Art scene status. It just so happens that hot young artists, along with those with more refined sensibilities still prefer to be shown in their large, raw, once-industrial spaces. Regardless of your take on the issue, the Chadwicks haven’t noticed. They’ve been busy keeping a watchful eye on the horizon for pirates.
A deeply historical family whose papers are overseen by artists Jimbo Blachly and Lytle Shaw, the Chadwicks have a collection of works now on view at Winkleman Gallery through July 29th. Adhering strictly to a theme of seafaring adventure and works accompanied by text loaded with a puzzling lexicon of nautical jargon, the artists turn their deep family history into an historical narrative cleverly bordering on the absurd. The show is anchored around a scale model of Admiral Lord Nelson’s famed gunship HMS Victory, the boat aboard which he lost his life commanding the British way through the Battle of Trafalgar. Now also quite handy as a wet bar, it is joined in the gallery by nautical paintings, low relief memorials to wrecked sea vessels, and sculptural works relishing a time of high sea exploration. In the back gallery space, a tongue-in-cheek drama unfolds in a short video of the artists and others aboard the model gunship.
The work displays competing themes: a familial respect for the danger presented by traversing the open sea, and a whimsical nostalgia for a time when pirates and more respectable nautical adventurers returned to port with tales equal parts victory and severe disappointment. Many of the works are inspired by excavated findings from family journals written on the water. This dance between serious historical fact and whimsically constructed lore provides the artists with a seemingly un-exhaustible resource for artistic inspiration. Their adherence to this narrative is almost Beuysian, yet executed with a healthy dash of humor. Fittingly, the slogan printed on the bottom of the show poster reads honor in sincerity.
Every artist makes work that exists to be seen and to speak for itself when considered within the current artistic canon. Sometimes you just need to look through the proper spyglass in order to see the work in all of its appropriate glory. The Chadwicks embrace this notion through the filter of their family history. They call forth from the crow’s nest you forgot existed, your head down scrubbing whatever deck your current state finds you tidying—
“Land, ho!” they bellow, every bit as dead serious as they are smiling out the side of their mouth.
The Chadwicks
Furling the Spanker: Masterworks from the Chadwicks’ Nautical Collection
Winkleman Gallery
June 16 – July 29, 2011
