1993 in review: alternative spaces - art exhibits

Art in America, August, 1994

Alternative Museum,

New York

Jst Bcz Ur Paranoid Dnt Thnk Thyr Nt Aftr U (Malcolm X Pt 1) (Mar. 2-May 2) posed Malcolm X "as avenging angel, decorative sign and priest of a fragmented, mediated cult' in a series of eight light-box tableaux Produced by the biracial "art band" X-PRZ (Doug Anderson and Mark Pierson of Boston, and Kenseth Armstead and Tony Cokes of New York), the show examined the tendency toward hysteria and paranoia that often characterizes discourse on racial difference. The show traveled to Spaces in Cleveland, Sept. 10-Oct. 22, 1993.

Art in General,

New York

American Gothic (Mar. 20-May 1), organized by former Bronx Museum curator Laura J. Hoptman, took the famous Grant Wood portrait as the starting point for an examination of American identity. Generally addressing the notion of "American values," the exhibition investigated questions of cultural xenophobia, regionalism and domestic iconography. The artists included Lee Barlow, Michael Butler, Verne Dawson, Mary Dwyer, Dan Ford, Paul Ramirez-Jonas Jonas, Natalia Kalmus, Lavern Kelley, K.K. Kozik and Richard Rule.

Henry Street

Settlement, New York

On the Way Home (Feb. 26-Apr. 4), organized by photographer Hope Sandrow and the Artist & Homeless Collaborative, presented art by more than 60 artists, volunteers and residents of New York City homeless shelters. The exhibition included resumes by shelter residents as well as a portfolio of hand-colored self-portrait etchings, done in a workshop conducted by printmaker Juli D'Amaro. Among the participants were John Ahearn, Ida Applebroog, Elizabeth Murray and Fred Wilson.

Randolph Street

Gallery, Chicago

The Graffiti Show: A Hip Hop Phenomenon (Mar. 5-Apr. 10), a floor-to-ceiling to-ceiling graffiti installation, was kicked off with murals by Mario Gonzalez Jr. (Zore), Rafael Almaguer (Rafa) and Spray Brigade. At the opening, graffiti writers from all over the city were invited to add their tags to the wall. The show also provided the occasion for a panel discussion on hip hop in Chicago and performances by Chicago rappers and breakdancers, including Story Island, Dead Poet Society, Knomadz, The Gras Is and Zebra Dawn.

RAW, Hartford, Conn.

Popular Mechanics (Jun. to-July 16) was an environment of kinetic sculpture assembled by Roxy Paine and John Townsend. In Townsend's Waiting Room, water from the Real Art Ways plumbing was diverted to run through the tubing of a group of refigured mock-Bauhaus chairs and out into a sink. Paine's Lust, a motor driven sculpture mounted on the ceiling, alternately plunged a light bulb into a tank of crankcase oil and a laboratory beaker into a container of water.

Hallwalls, Buffalo

The Nuclear Indian Series (Mar. 6-April 23), an installation by Tom Huff, a member of the Seneca/Cayuga tribe who lives on the Onondaga Reservation outside Syracuse, mixed the artist's traditional stone carvings with a clutter of "Indian" souvenirs and kitsch products. The artist "pokes fun at the absurdity and rampant sentimentality of white culture's view of the Indian," wrote art critic Richard Huntington in the Buffalo News, "and at the same time reveals the painful reality" of the Native American experience.

Exit Art,

New York

Poverty Pop, The Aesthetics of Necessity (Nov. 13-Jan. 8), organized by Exit Art co-directors Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo, adapted the tradition of Dada and Pop assemblage for the grungy '90s with work by 16 artists who use found objects out of economic necessity as well as esthetic choice. According to Village Voice critic Kim Levin, the result was "multivalent social images, recuperated metaphors and an occasional spindly one-liner." Among the artists were John Drury, Vincent Gargiulo, Beth Haggart, Rachel Harrison, Barry Hylton, Fred Tomaselli and Sergio Vega.

White Columns,

New York

Naming of the Colors (Apr. 30-May 23), organized by White Columns director Bill Arning and free-lance writer and curator Kirby Gookin, looked at the way color abstractions can take on conceptual and political overtones. Among the works were Andres Serrano's monochrome Blood photograph, Rachel Lachowicz's color chart done in eye shadow and Rafael Sanchez's geometric abstracts made of peanut butter and jelly. Other artists included Gary Bachman, John Franklin, Gaylen Gerber, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Liz Larner and John Miller.

Franklin Furnace,

New York

Works from the Permanent Collection (Nov. 19-Dec. 31), a selection of audio-tapes made by artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres, was part of Food for Thought, an ongoing series of artist-curated shows from Franklin Furnace's collection. The installation was minimal: a coffee table with chairs and an invitation to viewers to sign out cassette players. Gonzalez-Torres chose about 30 works, ranging from Meredith Monk's Key (1971) to a 1993 composition by Julia Heyward and including pieces by Laurie Anderson, Jackie Apple, Eric Bogosian, Lawrence Weiner and others.

Southern Exposure,

San Francisco

Cherry Bomb (Apr. 30-May 29), curated by Mike Blockstein and Meg Mack, was "an explosive fusion of girlhood and pop culture" designed to examine how contemporary youth culture functions both as a commercial product and a means of social control The show included Andrea Bowers's installation on cheerleading, documents from Johanna Poethig's tongue-in-cheek women's bowling league and 93 everyday objects converted into sex toys by Pae White, along with works by Lynn Aldrich, Liz Canning, Erika Cosby, Kathy Fenker, Zizi Raymond, Anne Walsh and Karen Williams.