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Monday, November 9, 2009

Visual Art Currently Hanging: Evan Blackwell at Gallery4Culture

Posted by Jen Graves on Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 11:02 AM

The sculpture that works best for me in Evan Blackwell's Gallery4Culture show this month is this one, made of straws stacked and contained inside a frame. They are their own untidy, Froot-Loopy reward. It is all you can do not to stick a hand out and push them back so that they form a flat surface, the way you might with books on a shelf.

Instead, they bulge out like a pillow.

This pillow, furthermore, has a black hole at its center—or actually, as you realize whenever you move, at whatever spot you are standing in front of, since the straws straight in front of you are the ones you can see straight down into, into their dark centers. In this way the pillow connotes a portrait whose eyes follow you wherever you go in the room.

Comments (12) RSS

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It's like the decor for a hip dentist's office.

Posted by meowmeowkitty on November 9, 2009 at 11:48 AM

IT'S LIKE THE SURFACE OF A KITTIE'S KILL YARD WHERE COLLECTED BONES BUILD POROUS SURFACES. MEAT!

Posted by LaRiiiiM0RrrHAwtiiii696969

on November 9, 2009 at 11:57 AM

I assume the bulge in the bottom pic is your wide lens succumbing to spherical distortion, and the frame is actually rectalinear? This is pretty cool.

Posted by Fnarf

on November 9, 2009 at 12:10 PM

@2: I, too, like meat! Hello!
@3: The frame in fact does bulge a bit, though this photo seems to exaggerate it.

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on November 9, 2009 at 12:14 PM

Well, then, I'm against it. I don't like things that bulge like that.

Posted by Fnarf

on November 9, 2009 at 12:39 PM

Neat!

Posted by SeaExile on November 9, 2009 at 1:03 PM

Mr. Blackwell meet Tara Donovan. Know your history folks.

Posted by AceGallery on November 9, 2009 at 2:03 PM

I took a pottery class from Evan and he is a serious babe. I wanted him to do to be what Patrick did to Demi in Ghost. Hot damn.

Posted by hotpotter on November 9, 2009 at 2:40 PM

@7: Ditto. I can appreciate the color and the framing, but HAZE trumps all straw installations.
check out these images (from a 2003 Houston installation)
http://ricegallery.org/new/exhibition/ha…

The geometry of the frame pieces were much more impressive. Overall, good show.

Posted by Julianna on November 9, 2009 at 3:18 PM

#7 & 9 -- I really don't see that these two pieces are doing the same things at all. They may both be made from stacked straws, but the effect is significantly different. It's foolish to argue that one is a failed or lesser version of the other.

Posted by bottsford on November 9, 2009 at 3:29 PM

Yes! The Stranger staff has a little brother! Good job kitty!

Posted by Dock Ellis on November 9, 2009 at 4:08 PM

@7 and 9: You are right. All things made of stacked straws are ripoffs. T-O-M, where are you on this? I mean, didn't Tara steal your shit? LAWSUITS$$!

Posted by Jen Graves on November 9, 2009 at 4:41 PM