Summer Pack1

Fake cardboard boxes, tiny wood buildings and bubble gum colored sprawling sculptures take over the beautiful, open space at Susanne Hilberry.  The exhibit is a good example of current contemporary art. 

Susanne always works the room! She always dresses hip and cutting edge yet remaining appropriate and not over done.  Nice shoes Susanne!

Ivin Ballen created these boxed fakes!  From far away they appeared to be regular card board boxes with pastel and colored tape folded onto the wall.  The "boxes" are actually made of fiberglass and some acrylic paint!  Nice trick but should I bring up the question of "why"?  Why would someone go through all the trouble of creating these copies?.....why is a figurative casted sculpture any different?  Again art has no rules so I will only pose questions.  I found the work visually pleasing and wasn't bothered by the process and found it more interesting.  To me they were like a humorous commentary of where contemporary art is at: making fakes of what is already selling...using a more traditional technique of casting but instead of a traditional objects...using cardboard boxes.  The color palette matched well with the rest of the show and knowing the curator's palette I can guess why the work was selected.

Fabio Fernadez created this intimate "Contemporary Tramp Series, 2005"  of wood from a clementine crates.  They are untitled with names in parenthesis like sawtooth building, gable with shed, large barn with opening, and poultry shed/George Segal.  The names seem to reference other real buildings.  The recycled materials are a wonderful after fact because they are so refined, smooth, and clean the viewer might never guess the wood was from old crates!  The small buildings are put together with such precision and an eye for detail.  The wood grain even is complementary of the construction..

Fernandez's pieces among one of the many drum sets.  I arrived late in the opening but I assume that they drum sets were used in a sound performance installation earlier....but this is only speculation.

More of Ballen's work















These large sleigh-like floor sculptures are by artist Jon Rajkovich. These pieces constructed of MDF, cast plastic and latex seemed to me to be some kind of hybrid of furniture, art, and found object.  At the ends of the wavy sculpture are cast pieces that look like they were taken from an old rocking horse.  I enjoyed how the pieces worked with the rest of the art...even though I still am at a lose of words to describe them.

More fake cardboard....

I like this one...it looks like a child's rendering of a computer or radio device.  Over and out!