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Art Tue Apr 20 2010
Last Chance to See a Good Show
Last week I spent some time roaming around my usual handful of West Loop Galleries and didn't have much trouble picking out a favorite show-- New York artist Cordy Ryman's Tempest at Kavi Gupta.
I had a feeling I would like this show ahead of time when I got the press release with an image of "Doodle Chips." It's just so nice-- painting on wood chips, tracing the growth rings with pen and paint. It's so big and little at the same time. And it's easy on the eyes, too.
For Tempest, Ryman used materials that are not necessarily traditionally associated with art-- velcro, dayglo paint, manufactured woods, enamels and various other found objects. His use of the material, however, is quite artful and inventive. Two-by-fours are cut at angles and stacked in such a way so that they balance between walls and floors. The backs of them are painted with florescent paints so that you cannot see the paint itself but the glow if it reflecting on the stark white walls of the gallery. Velcro is used both practically (to adhere objects to walls) and as an aesthetic, sculptural component of the work.
Playful titles like "Yellow DoodleBot" and "Shark Fin Soup" mimic the playfulness (verging on haphazardness) of the work. The work has obvious ties to minimalism but lacks the clean aesthetic of the movement. If it were in an alley, it would likely look like trash. In the bright white cube of Kavi Gupta, it is simultaneously fun and graceful.
I dare you not to enjoy this show. Do it now, though, because it comes down on Saturday.
