Computer routed, vaguely art-nouveau stylized butterfly shapes are mechanically fastened into long, high, wall-like constructions. These walls are in turn arranged to divide the large gallery into a disorienting maze. Random voids are plugged with diverse images - people, landscapes, historical events - all culled from the internet. To navigate these narrow passages one gets the sensation of walking through corridors of memory, a déjà vu mixed up mash-up view through multiple windows on multiple worlds; a digitally fabricated analog manifestation of computer memory bank ones and zeros. The surprising effectiveness of these very porous "memory walls" to almost totally obscure others in the room was oddly enhanced by the continuous unintelligible soundtrack provided by a relatively large crowd of talkative gallery-goers.
Meanwhile, across the street, the empty old Dia waits patiently silent, where Mr. Pardo's cheerfully colorful tile floor remains hopeful, and occasionally manages to catch the eye of West Chelsea wanderers, even through darkened windows and the dust of indecisive neglect.
Jorge Pardo continues at Friedrich Petzel Gallery, 537 West 22nd Street, until June 19th.
You mean that floor and that installation are by the same guy? Id have never guessed. You know everything.
ReplyDeleteWish that were true. Although I want to know everything, I often feel I know very little, and now half of what I once knew I seem to have forgotten!
ReplyDeleteAs to the tile floor in the old Dia, you've seen it in real life a million times. I hope the only thing you've forgotten is that it was a Jorge Pardo installation.
I did recognize that floor, but I never knew it was anything more than leftovers from the stock room of "Jersey Tile & Grout".
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