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Art Thu Jun 10 2010
Review: Noble & Superior Projects' Sense Objects
Up until July 7, Sense Objects exhibition at Noble and Superior opened this past Friday. The show consisted of a photo series and installation dealing with depiction through performative action and interactive perception of objects. Both works dealt with experience in contrasting manners, one through documentation, the other through experience.
Through the classic lens of black and white photography, Kate O'Neill's work does what it depicts. In her series, Third Law, she subjects the body into positions of oppressive banality. These portraits consist of a body, usually hers, in a posed position with part of the body either hidden or out of the frame. Hints of theatricality appear because all of the images are spontaneous but posed pictures based on performances. Through a cyclical point of view in Third Law, a critique of the "boring" is reiterated. Since this series is based on performances, the momentary element is present but her compositions are all too simplistic. Why try so hard to be boring? This series gave me nothing to remember it by except the fact that it bored me. As a young art consumer I was not attracted to these compositions.
In contrast to O'Neill's series, Rebecca Kressley's installation ON THE SOUTH LOCK OVER SHINE was one I was interested in experiencing. She has accumulated a plethora of natural but processed materials meticulously arranged on the space's floor. The scent of the peppercorn and mint was not pungent but begged the viewer to kneel onto the floor to waft in this unique mixture of glass shards and earth. The fragrance like the installation isn't permanent, ephemeral by design because the moment of experience, like the installation, is temporary. A sound loop, "Dragging the Hound," ran in the background, subtle but ostensible because of its striking low pulse. A deep whistle echoes in the room and creates a vibrancy that ties together the artifacts of the piece. It amplifies the fact that one is still present in this quasi environment. The reminiscence of nature conglomerated with man-made articles is vivified in this installation.