Below is the article that was originally published for the blog reCollect Creative back on April 5th, 2010. Please enjoy the work of Phil Spangler and consider this another preview for our upcoming kinetics exhibition!
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From reCollect Creative (4/5/2010)
From reCollect Creative (4/5/2010)
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When I first heard about Cold Comfort, Phil Spangler's current show at Northside's Prairie gallery (Cinci), I wasn't sure what to expect. I was told that the young artist had recently presented a rather impressive work in the Camera Obscura show (also at Prairie) that highlighted his competence in machinery, so I admittedly showed up to 4035 Hamilton Ave expecting something that "worked" if nothing else.
When I arrived, I wasn't let down. The first piece I stumbled on (after touring the special projects space, grabbing a glass-o-wine, and entering the main gallery in batman like fashion -- through the side door), was an interactive work by Spangler titled Right Back Where We Started From. This sculptural work, like the rest in the show, utilized materials/objects that can be found in nature, but upon removal, were presented in ways that differed from the norm. But more specifically, I found myself looking at a revolving landscape of brush that was controlled by the viewer. Clever, clean, functional and thought-provoking all describe this work.
As I stared at, through, and around the piece, I found the conversation in my head working out the whys and hows, and I remained pleased. From my angle, Spangler was commenting on repetitive cycles that we, as beings, are in control of, and how they often lead to the destruction of our mother, nature. And the fact that he gives the viewer control over this dry, desolate imagery only confirms this for me. Aside from interpretations, I also found myself enjoying the simplicity of the construction. The piece was built using a combination of rubber tires, hand made wheels and crank arms. Cogs and ball-bearings were also utilized versus any sort of complicated pulley systems. And an open framework solidly held everything together, leaving few guessing games on how things worked, which in my mind, is rairly a bad thing ...as this typically helps assure audiences that the concepts within the work have enough strength to stand above simple fascinations and guessing games on how something is constructed. Plus, it's hard to fake craftsmanship when you don't hide anything.
So as I continued to bounce around the quaint space, the next piece I noticed was Everything I Thought I Knew ...a living (or slowly dying) piece made from plastic-container-planted wheatgrass bunches, florescent lamps, and another visually fascinating system -- this time one used to water the plant-life from four bright orange Home Depot buckets. While studying the work, I again felt within, but removed from nature, but this time around more of a lab-rat feeling overwhelmed my psyche, as I watched the wheat-grass slowly but surely meet its demise (as it was much more brown and dead then I remember from opening night). But again, Spangler's ideas and feelings toward human-invaded natural habitats was revisited. And the fact that the piece may have gained visual interest (still debating) as the tall spears began draping over the controlled environment only helped solidify my interest. And truth be told, I may check out the show one last time close to its closing to see where things are then. The color variations and maybe even smell, may finalize my overall feelings about this one. Regardless, the comments on what our world may eventually become -- an abandoned, laboratory reproduced/manufactored existence, much like what's found in Pixar's WALL-E -- defintely brought home the show's title Cold Comfort.
The show's theme continued to gel as I approached the final piece worth mentioning, a bronze casting of a deer scull, that has been covered in a "good" amount of borax crystal "bling" (only 212 days left Weezy), that sits rather nicely in the space, when not crowded. As the work begged for conversation, I found myself asking "Am I now officially on a deserted prairie (please excuse the pun) or still trying to shine within a newly defined metropolis?" This is just one of the questions I posed to myself, as I looked over the piece. And since the casting seemed to capture every bit of detail within the scull and antlers, as I circled it, I admittedly was a bit dazzled as light bounced off intricate particles of the crystalline surface. Though, thinking about it now, I do wonder if some of the viewable interior's details, in bronze, could have helped the work at all??
At any rate, the show is/was surely blog-worthy, so please check it out when you have a moment. It will be running at Prairie, located next to/above "take the cake" in Cincinnati's Northside district through May 8th. The address is 4035 Hamilton Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45223 and more info can be found HERE.
Enjoy!
-Jonathan Sears
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