ART CRUSH Issue 4 - October 2013

ISSUE

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‘Find your density.’

ART CRUSH OCTOBER 2013

Contents Editor’s note

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October featured artists; Pooneh Maghazehe Calum Craik Kirk Faber Ojay Morgan Julie Ann Nagle Nicholas Cueva

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October-December show list

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ART CRUSH, Brooklyn NY www.ihaveanartcrush.com ihaveanartcrush@gmail.com

ART CRUSH

Staff Editor in Chief Guest Editor Assistant Editor

Brandon Elijah Johnson Valerian Ocampo Drew Kademan

Curation

Valerian Ocampo

Design

Valerian Ocampo Danielle Lee

Special thanks to 1.21 Gigawattz

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Editor’s Note Oct. 28th, 2013

In this edition of Art Crush, my good friend Val (previously featured) takes the curational reigns as guest editor. In doing so he takes us into a state of metaphysical catharsis, asking the question, is ones work informed by their environment, existing as a withdrawn sort of reaction to culture, or is the work the manifestation of that environment, occupying a space between the presumed gap of art and life, unequivocally becoming a part of that culture. In this issue we are pleased to introduce to you to six artists who fall into that latter school of thought.

When I first reviewed the issue, after having spent some time in the dark in regards to exactly what the work was going to be like, I lost my shit. I mean that of course in the most endearing way possible, I think that collectively what this crew of artists has to offer is the driest kinds of humor, the most honest kinds of intentions, and a consequently righteous kind of art… Oh, and everything else is in there too, that’s kind of the principle from which this issue was born at least. From there you can navigate the rest of this edition, it will all make a lot more sense in a moment, without further delay, welcome to issue 4, Im sure you’ll like it here.

- Brandon Elijah Johnson

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Pooneh Maghazehe

Pooneh Maghazehe, 2011 MFA of Columbia University, works out of Brooklyn NY. With a diverse background that includes industrial design, interior design, and behavioral sciences, she has always felt a division between her work with interior spaces and her private practice, addressing it only in the last few years. Her current work fluctuates between installation and sculpture, really connecting with viewers in a tangible, larger than life scale and presence.

Because of the nature of scale in her work, large spaces

are a requirement while on view.

Works like ELENI’S BEDROOM and CHRIS AND PHILIPPINE LOVE are both constructed from prefabricated, donated couch and futon components, dissected and arranged them in a manner that is imposing and sometimes uneasily comfortable. “The pieces are purchased from owners I find on Craigslist” says Maghazehe, “they list images of the couches and sectionals” . Couches and beds are both heavily used objects in a home setting, the events that took place in direct contact with the original owners is referenced in the finished

works. Even down to a particle level, hair strands and other human articles are left with the material.

Arrangement wise, CHRIS AND PHILIPPINE LOVE is placed on its end, standing a good three feet taller than the average viewerdeconstructed partially down to its frame, metal collapsible bed frame componentry, referencing exposure.

Pioneer series (2010) shares the same sort of social, individualistic undertones as Pooneh’s current work. Meat is branded with a custom iron featuring a common

Chris and Philippine Love 58 x 72” 2012 reverse (left), front (right)

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pattern found in a foreign culture.

Some of what she’s referencing here is the disconnect between location and culture in a globalized world environment. Political in nature, Pioneer series addresses fabricated brands, referencing patriotism symbolized as beef.

Beef, Pooneh explains, is an obvious, thoughtful and awkwardly humorous symbol of patriotism.

It’s an interestingly accurate personification of American culture into a single object. I find it curious that such a minimal gesture can disregard such a large concept with a single mark, and here Pooneh has done just that. Pioneer series was initially displayed as original objects and stored frozen between viewings. When it became clear that the original work would not last in correct maintenance, C prints were created to stand in their place.

Environment is an important element in displaying Pooneh’s work. “I’m kind of attracted to spaces that can help or challenge the work” she explains, “- I just installed a show at Newark Penn Station, in a space that used to be an architecture office - storefront at commuter level - the space did something weird with the work, I think it was something about the very corporate curved dropped soffit with acoustic ceilings and down lighting, overlooking the rest of downtown from a tall window that sort of eclipsed the window I installed in my piece... great overlaps, and then the horrid blue 8

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Negativists’ Stand-inat Sleep Inn Digital C-Print, mounted on aluminum 16 x 20”, 2010 (left & right) 24 hours at the Sleep Inn

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Negativists’ Stand-inat Sleep Inn Digital C-Print, mounted on aluminum 16 x 20”, 2010 (left & right) 24 hours at the Sleep Inn

carpet helped as well - it made things weird in a way that i couldn’t have imagined without it… as if it began informing the work and vice versa.. I’m into that - in terms of the works commanding a certain space and distance from viewers and other work, they need a lot of elbow room”. She affectionately refers to these rare but ideal settings as ““zero points”, places where the naturally occurring environment works for the piece. For her larger furniture based works that exude and awkward presence, being in a

congested space can mean a claustrophobic experience for viewers.

Even with a comfortable amount of space to walk in and around round CHRIS AND PHILIPPINE LOVE, it’s tall enough that to truly appreciate its personality requires additional head room. Pioneer series is so socially charged that any other environment would be completely inappropriate.

In a Sleep Inn, Pooneh found the perfect “zero point” for her installation NEGATIVISTS’ 11

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STAND-IN AT SLEEP INN. Creating specific objects in her studio, she then transported an entire twin motel rooms worth of work from which to create photographic imagery over the course of twenty four hours. Pooneh explains that a motel room is a near perfect space; you’re responsibility to it is limited to the amount of time it is in your name your name and vice versa.

That signature, exasperated humor again is found in this installation.

Directly on top of the stock motel environment, her custom created objects re strewn about in various arrangements- overcrowding the temporary space and making it at once instantly uncomfortable not only to view but to work in and with.

Maghazehe’s work is incredibly personal, sensitive and cerebral. Where similarly minded work falters in presence,

Pioneer Series Digital C-Print, mounted on aluminum 8 x 10”, 2008 (left & right)

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Pooneh exceeds through scale, opportunistic material and setting choices, and in general excellently orchestrated productions. All the while she maintains a constant personal presence with her work and audience- her work is based on exposure of identity and in sharing it; she is subjected to the same rules of engagement as her work is. For the record, I find she handles it with a brutal graciousness rarely found in such humility.

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Calum Craik

Calum spent his early career in Edinburgh, UK, where he attended university. Currently living and working in Brooklyn, NY, he continues with many of the same themes and narratives that he addressed in his work overseas.

History as a fluid, malleable material is Calum’s central focus throughout his work; in earlier productions he had sought to create perceptual holes within it. In Craik’s own words; “The visual language I employ often stems from the idea that there is no ‘first and last word’, dialogically language and objects can shift through time.

Meanings from the past and the present are never stable.”

In Mined potential (2012), Craik displays one tonne of rock salt on a gallery floor to illustrate this concept. Rock salt, he explains, is a material that is composed of tiny granules that together create a mass, or whole. Over time, organically or by human intervention, the mass of this material shifts to create new forms, loses and gains

Bertrand Russell condensed into a jpg and applied to a flat surface Seriograph on mirror 36 x 24”, 2013 14

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mass. What we refer to as rock salt in this circumstance is in actuality a collection of objects. Reapplying the material does not change the fact that we refer to it as so, though the physicality of the ‘object’ as a whole is in constant alteration.

We perceive it as a singular object, when in reality it is a conglomeration of similar components making up the whole.

This same premise can be applied nearly universally to the world around us, which is the point that Craik is making. Humanity in its current incarnation functions primarily due to the use of constants, which is a curious manner of observation considering how volatile our environment can be as well as ourselves as a species.

In Proposal for a Forrest Monument (2013) Craik demonstrates how easily a constant can be obliterated. In this modest digital print a lone monument stands amongst the trees, a timeless and ultimately human gesture. The identity of the man post humorously represented here has been decimated by a sole stroke, a finely applied dab of pink pastel spray paint covering his face, arms and upper torso. In this simple gesture, Craik has reopened the meaning of this monument to interpretation, thereby altering the very definition of what a monument is. Included with this piece is the following excerpt;

The Monument stands tall among the trees, it has made a clearing a for itself. The Monument does not breath and bring life like the tree, it speaks of death placing itself proud and distinguished. It acts as warning to all those who stand in it’s way. The land it has cleared is not his own but yet he casts a shadow upon it.

“Monologism, at its extreme, denies the existence outside itself of another consciousness with equal rights and equal responsibilities, another I with equal rights (thou). With a monologic approach (in its extreme pure form) another person remains wholly and merely an object of consciousness, and not another consciousness. No response is expected from it that could change anything in the world of my consciousness. Monologue is finalized and deaf to other’s response, does not expect it and does not acknowledge in it any force. Monologue manages without the other, and therefore to some degree materializes all reality.

Monologue pretends to be the ultimate word. It closes down the represented world and represented persons” (Bakhtin, M 1984). ____________________________________________________ Bakhtin, M.M. (1984) Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, Edited and trans. by Caryl Emerson.

Minnieapolis: University of Minnesota Press pp.292-293

More currently Calum has focused his attention on the internet, specifically as a digital archival system. He regards this resource as “a shifting collective archive” in which he examines consumption, authorship and the public/private sphere. Using a variety of news footage and stock imagery he attempts to create a three-dimensional construct to activate space around two dimensional experiences in order to pose new ways of examining the exhaustive expanse of the world wide web.

Proposal for a Forrest Monument Digital Print, 29.7cm x 21cm 2013

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Aesthetically, some materials are found repetitively in Calum’s work. Pyrite is a definite favorite- he goes as far to say that he has a sort of fixation for it. The density and color are tacitly pleasing to the artist- Its shiny nature gives the mineral a perceived value, which is implied in the history and nickname of this staple material.

In his more recent work Calum frequents internet based photo archives- not solely for the visual content but also the value. In the same manner that Calum uses the granular nature of rock salt in Mined Potential to illustrate the constant of change, he has found a similar quality within digital archives; perceived value- the archive as a whole in contrast to the composing information.

Mined Potential 1 tonne of rock salt site specific, 2012 (left) Psychedelic Father Flag Bronze mushroom, fabric, ipad 6ft x 1ft., 2013 (right)

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Flatten (1) Collage, 29.7cm x 21cm 2012 (previous spread, left) Altamont (1) Collage, 29.7cm x 21cm 2012 (previous spread, right)

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Aside from Calum’s focus, he has a casualness about him that is intriguing considering the breadth and complexity of his work. He readily admits that he has a soft spot for found objects and can often be found rummaging through sidewalk sales and flea markets. In these endeavors, physical archives such as old film sets and scrapbooks are of particular interest. I myself will honestly admit that some of the subject matter that came up in conversation with Calum was partially beyond my comprehension, for which I apologize to the artist and viewership whole heartedly. What I do understand is the depth and clarity of thought that Calum exhibits, and in this, I perceive value.

Beneath the Plane Rock, glass 3.5ft x 6ft x 2ft 2012

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“Someone was trying to Skype you” I’m told while leaving my building in commute to the grocery store. I check my phone, noticing the time to be a quarter after twelve. I don’t have any appointments until one I think, before realizing I’ve miscalculated the time difference between Brooklyn and Chicago having not been there for so long. I call Kirk while jogging back up the stairwell. We agree to begin the meeting right there, and after technical difficulties we settle on a voice conference.

Kirk Faber

Kirk had a show that very evening at Autumn Space, a fitting venue considering the imminent change in seasons. Most of the work included in this piece will be shot on location he informs me..

It’s a solo show- in the broadest sense it’s about relating to other people and the intricacies of selfawareness, consciousness.

Young man/young tree a photo of me standing with a tree that’s approximately my size that I planted in Seth Hunter’s back yard. 2013

Like many artists, Kirk has had issues with social anxiety.

Once considered an introvert he now comes across as an outspoken and humble member of Chicago’s contemporary art scene, exhibiting often, and a notable friend of equally prominent artists. Kirk himself runs an apartment gallery out of his home, logically named “Kirk’s Apartment”.

In dealing with these anxieties, Kirk’s art is born from a sense of honesty, so much so that 25

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it has become an integral theme throughout his entire body of work.

Honesty centers him and in a broader sense reassures him that the surrounding world can be okay, things will be alright. The work is accessible intellectually and emotionally. It is not specifically referential to him but is often read as such as it comes from personal origins. In this way Kirk works to fulfill a desire to see the world around him rather globally, using personal anecdotes as microcosms to illustrate his take on our constantly evolving society.

When asked about those artists who work in an opposing nature, Kirk mulls over a few people that come to mind, people who above all else focus their attention on relevance, academia. He states that he’s not satisfied by working in that manner. Though he observes and understands why some choose to make such things their focus, Kirk takes comfort in beer, friends and the simple beauty of the everyday.

This is how tall you are A collection of heights from people who have been in my apartment in the last 18 months. 2013 (left) Sensitive young man T-shirts in varied sizes that read “My Name is Kirk Faber and I’m a Sensitive young man”, colors chosen based on other works in the show, free to gallery visitors.

2013 (above)

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Getting to the heart of our discussion, I peer through the slide list he had sent me earlier in the week. “Title seems to be a pretty important aspect of your workwould you care to elaborate on that?” I ask him. He steers my attention to “Cute Girls Laughing - a collection of photos of cute girls I know laughing”. What he likes about this photo series is the insecurity of it, letting someone else have a different reaction than his own. The series deals with his own feelings about interacting with

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women. He doesn’t want to be a creep, instead he wants to express his charming side- a thin line runs between these two characteristics.

He’d just like to make cute girls laugh- no high concept, no physics altering technical elements- Kirk doesn’t have to get straight to the point, it’s all there on the wall to be witnessed in its entirety.

Art gives Kirk keys to the car, to do whatever.

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Cute Girls Laughing a collection of photos of cute girls I know laughing from right to left; Kaycee, 2013 Ariel, 2013 Qing, 2013 Susie, 2013 Savannah, 2013 Molly, 2013 Kathy, 2013

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Our conversation wanders to another piece in the show tonight, a rock titled “I’m trying as hard as I can”. It’s a stolen boulder with the names of the spaces it’s exhibited in etched into its surface.

The rock was an object of interest when Kirk first began planning out this piece, he noticed it over a period of time while commuting through Chicago’s north side on the bus. It has a certain Charles Ray quality about it, in that an obsession was built around it in Kirk’s mind, forming a covetous relationship. It didn’t belong to him or anyone else, so why shouldn’t he take it? The rock measures a good 3 x 2 by 2”, putting it at roughly just under a thousand pounds.

To move the rock around, Kirk has to rent an engine winch just to load it into a truck. The fact that he wants to carry it around from show to show is part of the auxiliary humor that comes along with it. The rock is tangled within traditional themes and qualities of past artistic practices. “This is art, use it”. To Kirk, art can exist in the real world and have functional qualities as well. It doesn’t just have to be detached and academic in spirit- it can be both. You can have your rock and think about it, similarly you can have your cake and eat it too.

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Growing a beard so that I look like an artist 2012/2013 (ongoing performance) Handsome 2013 (left)

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Kirks philosophy merges the definitions of art and life into the same idea. “What do I want to do with life? How can life accomplish that? How can it be fun for people to think about?” Kirk addresses his work through this mentality. Instead of having a life and calling it art, Kirk tries to bring his everyday closer to what he believes art is.

Doug A large print of Doug Sohn, of Hot Doug’s 2013 (right) Blue Shirt / Blue Wall 2013 (above)

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I’m trying as hard as I can A stolen boulder with the names of the spaces it’s exhibited in etched into its surface, title subject to change over time.

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Ojay Morgan

Miami native Ojay Morgan, a contemporary performer residing here in Brooklyn for as long as I can remember has always been a soft spoken photographer. Performing under the name Zebra Katz Ojay is constantly in motion, he can be a hard man to visit. It is my pleasure to share some of his visual persona with you, a side that is every bit imbued with intrigue as his music.

Morgan is a life-long Polaroid enthusiast. His portfolio goes as far back as the age of seven- a photograph from that time depicts him amongst friends and classmates. Reviewing his binders feels

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not unlike paging though your own family photographs, Ojays archive is a very personal one. It is not just the chronological progression that is interesting about this collection, it is the sheer volume and intent behind the shots. Some of these pictures aren’t even taken

by Ojay, some are completely found material. Because of the volume of film Ojay has taken throughout the years, interesting defects and patterns can be seen occasionally.

While some photographs are more poised, many others are taken in heat of moment or completely circumstantial in nature, a credit to Ojay’s craft.

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Julie Ann Nagle

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Buffet HD video, 3:00 Pig skeletons cast in corn meal and corn syrup were fed to live pigs on a farm in Vermont.

2011

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Julie’s work explores the performative nature of objects and the monumentalization of individuals. She composes installations akin to three dimensional paintings, considering common methods of display in contemporary sculpture and 18th century still life painting and photography. Representational and graphic elements within these spaces introduce illusion and perceptual shifts in depth.

Julie Ann Nagle is a sculptor and installation artist who grew up in Zelienople, a small town in the Pennsylvania countryside.

She moved to New York to receive her BFA from the Cooper Union, then completed her MFA in Sculpture and Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2009.

She has completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Musem of Fine Arts, Houston Core Program

Nagle stages anachronistic amongst others. Nagle currently fictions in which facets of histori- lives and works in Brooklyn, New cal unconscious are explored using York. contemporary material forms.

Below the surface of these fictions are actual histories of innovation, exploration, and ambition which she traces with wry humor, comparing their promises of social and scientific utopias against the present.

Artemis, Maria Digital print 24 x 36�

This summer I photographed my sister-inlaw while she was nine months pregnant.

The photo is not enhanced; it celebrates a remarkable and fleeting moment, natural beauty, and a real body rather than idealized ones. Like the photos in Process Digest Process, the digital print is cut out, reinstating the photos presence as a material object.

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Process, Digest, Process Cut out and collaged digital prints, toothpicks, plastic knife, plastic platter, push pins, wax, wood, masking tape, fabric.

Approximately 24� x 36� each.

I carved highly processed foods- Spam, margarine, and Velveeta Cheese Product, into ephemeral sculptures and photgraphed them against small sets. I then cut the prints and reincorporated three dimensional elements to create the illusion of space, and to reinstate the objecthood of the photos.

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Still Life with Soda Corn meal, corn syrup, soda, vintage feed sacks, cotton, tyvek, landscaping fabric, electric candles, grain grinder, stainless bowl, meat tenderizer, wood, magic sculpt, wainscoting, wallpaper, carpet.

This photo is from a show at Soapbox Gallery. It was a great site for this piece, because this installation recalls both a period room at a museum and a store front window. The glass reinforces the picture plane created by a frontal composition.

The ambiguity of its purpose- as finished piece or composition to be photographed or painted- gave viewers pause before entering the space. Upon entering they become part of the composition- rather than passive viewers they are part of the scenario they inspect.

I consider the way industrialized agriculture has changed our taste in both senses of the word—the flavor of our foods and the aesthetic guiding our selection of them. Country goods are fetishized in large cirites at farmer’s markets, specialty grocery stores, and restaurants (Flatbush Farms in Brooklyn).

Conversely, urban design is popular in rural environments, described as “Country French Baroque” by Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. I draw connections between urban and rural environments through materials- baroque wallpaper matched to paisley bandanas, quilted tablecloths color matched to road signs, spray-painted concrete ears of corn. I chose contemporary foods and products analagous to objects in Baroque still life paintings, considering the relationships of display used in each – and how both inform the language of display found in contemporary sculpture.

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Forensics of the Present Digital Print 24” x 36” This photograph documents a tableau vivant performance at Socrates Sculpture Park on September 29, 2012. Viewers who wish to enter the picture plane were asked to “suit up” in tyvek suits and protective gear, becoming a part of the performance.

Water samples gathered during the performance were later analyzed under a microscope to create a series of drawings and collages.

The drama of contemporary aestheticization of science has its roots in Enlightenment era painting. The same dramatic effects utilized by Joseph Wright of Derby are now used in tv shows like Bones and CSI, in science magazines, and by the New York Times. In this tableau vivant I playfully reveal these illusions of power and mystery by imitating the authority of scientific imagery.

2012

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The Fall

Hideout, Carved, Less Than Greek

I am interested in the performative nature of installation- sculptures that exist in a particular configuration on a site for a finite amount of time. This photograph documents a fireworks performance on my installation at Franconia Sculpture Park on August 8, 2013. While the performers pose as statues, the event animates the still sculptures.

Each of the sculptures in The Fall are carved out of modern construction materials that have replaced stone and marble.

Lower quality materials, like Styrofoam and Stucco, reinstate the shorter life span of our constructs. Carve (left female figure) is descriptive of chainsaw carving of a log, yet my own process of foam carving and coating is revealed at the shoulders and head. The male figure (Less Than Greek) is a depiction less of a gladiator than an updated, fuller figure more commonly shared amongst American men today.

This work references classical sculpture and chainsaw carving, heralding both as major contributors to contemporary art in America. I consider divides in taste and class nationally and our cultural status internationally. Respect for folk traditions of America’s recent past revives as we continue to establish an artistic heritage independent of European precedents. A renewed cultural investment in Americana is in part the result of a lessened global leadership status, and perceptual shift toward seeing ourselves as a member (rather than leader) of a larger group. I trace this shift with wry humor, comparing our past social ideals against the present.

Each of the sculptures in The Fall are carved out of modern construction materials that have replaced stone and marble.

Lower quality materials, like Styrofoam and Stucco, reinstate the shorter life span of our constructs. Carve (left figure) captures the emergence of a figure from a solid log. One regards the forms as descriptive of chainsaw carving of a log, yet my own process of foam carving and coating is revealed at the shoulders and head. The figurative side recalls classical sculpture, though the materials and finish are contemporary. She is eroticized in a very unexpected and nontraditional way- with suggestive cracks in the log beneath her and a tease at her hidden nipple. The male in Less Than Greek is also not expectedly sexualized, as much as his oversize fig leaf would like to argue otherwise. Rather than sculpt this male as a gladiator, I updated his shape to the fuller figure more commonly shared amongst men in America today.

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Nicholas Cueva

Purple 2013

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Nick Cueva is if anything, quite literal. This frankness is trumped only by his unyielding, relentless curiosity and made communicable by what appears to be strong memory retention, a smoldering intelligence and quite honestly a charming personality.

While occasionally exhibiting a sort of stifled boisterousness in his work, you’d expect him to display a lot more of this jovial quality but are more commonly presented with objects and images/imagery likely to be found in a hospital, historical archive or gently meandering spring; all these things being beige, somewhat sterile and organic in function.

Much of Nick’s current work is plastic-based; readymade artificial articles of fruit, varying widths and gauges of PVA sheets and films, hospital grade surgi-

Bowl 2013 (page) Cup 2013 (right)

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cal tubing and the like. Some, like Purple (2013) incorporate both artificial components and actual organic material; A tiny crab claw protrudes from a construct of gesso, paint and metal photographed resting upon a contrasting green papered drawing. It is of great importance to mention that Nick also produces watercolor renderings of artifacts, actual and perceived. In the case of Purple, Nick demonstrates one of his fascinations; crustaceans. “They are somewhat of an obsession”, Nick explains.

Aesthetically, certainly- but also their basic nature, scientifically, classification wise is what is so intriguing about them- being an ancient yet also current sub-phylum. Another work, from his series Keep Sakes shares this crustacean theme; Hospitality Creek (2011, not pictured) is a

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gessoed lobster claw with a forest/ creek scene casually depicted upon its surface. In red hand-scripted lettering is inscribed the word “welcome” as if in finality, closing the piece so that it may be considered as a self-contained object.

Cueva explains his use of plastic material and fake fruits as part of an ongoing dialogue addressing reality and perception. Nick is in the school of philosophy dictating that perception is reality, harkening back to Douglas Adam’s quote; “Everything you see or hear or experience in any way at all is specific to you. You create a universe by perceiving it, so everything in the universe you perceive is specific to you.” In so many words, to Nick “fake things speak of real things; they let us let go of real things”.

Nick’s assemblages “Bowl” and “four” (2013) both contain these faux materials. In Bowl we find a clear plastic open container cradling an assortment of these fake fruits, the pear in the foreground dissected in such a manner that it is spilling forth an innard of purple/magenta polyester carpet.

In Nick’s mind, fruit works as a fleshy human surrogate, especially in the case of the peach- juicy, containing liquid within a fragile skin. A natural piece of fruit shares some of the same qualities of human physiology in a tactile sense.

This leads into his interest into artificial fruit- whereas a human is fragile; these fruit-like objects have no shelf life. Chemically and form

Eat 2013

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Pickle 2013 Four 2013 (right)

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wise, they would most likely last longer than our species as a whole if left to do so. In Four, Nick’s treatment of the fruit is much less centralized though definitely more affected, standing as one of four objects, all very artificial in nature.

Nick creates his work to be hands on; he’s an advocate of using art as a tool. When holding one of these little sculptural objects, you can feel the inquisitiveness and a sort of playfulness in which he works in. In complete contrast, some of Nicks work such as “In growth sys-

tems, expansion expresses exhaustion of external terminals” (2013, not pictured) deals with concepts of ownership and again, reality.

“In growth systems, expansion expresses exhaustion of external terminals” is accompanied by the text which explains the differential; “Printed on a light box, 4.035 feet wide and 3.5 feet tall, inset into a wall, the base 4 feet from the floor, in a public hospital in the vicinity of 20 miles of the physical residence of the entity owning this the

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work of art. To show it elsewhere than a hospital, the owner has to provide live video surveillance of that patch of wall, presented on a small hand held screen. The screen may not show any of the surrounding walls. It must have as little distortion as possible. The live feed must also be provided by the owner, open and free to download, at a slightly less resolution (the broadcast of the information of

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“how to downloaded” or “how to copy” is at the owners discretion), but no recordings may be made by the owner. They may only play and own the rights to the live streaming and not to the recording, or future playback. The playback is free to the people. The now is for the owner. The owner of this work owns the now that others only can play as an external experience.”

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Hand 2013 Meal 2013

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Part of what attracts me to Nick’s work is how open of a format he works in. Many of the works depicted here were initially introduced to me as objects- when he sent me images for this issue I was pleasantly surprised to find he had worked them into more scenic displays, giving them more of a narrative than they had origi-

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nally held own their own. I find Nick to be a well-rounded artist, which is an ever increasingly important and difficult quality to hold; much of his content is borrowed from the scientific and philosophical communities. Work referenced here but not depicted can be found at Nick’s website: www. http://nicholascueva.com.

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November - December 2013 show list NEW HUMANS Curated by Howie Chen November 17th - December 22nd 2013 @ BUREAU Michael Williams Paintings Nov 2nd – Dec. 8th @ CANADA Michael Yelliquette Their Arising and Passing Away October 25th - December 8th, 2013 @ DCKT contemporary A PINCH OF SAFFRON, DASH OF VERMOUTH On View: September 14th — October 27th, 2013 Reception: September 14th, 2013 6-8pm @ Dodge Gallery Dan Graham and Antoine Catala Collaboration work; Dolphin’s Smile (And More) October 25th to November 22nd @ 3A GALLERY PAUL GABRIELLI | “Daily Chores” OCTOBER 25 - DECEMBER 1, 2013 @ Invisible Exports

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