“see saw” in Chelsea
As I walked into each gallery in Chelsea I found that while I was appreciating and analyzing the artwork, I was first and foremost deciding if I would be able to write a response to it. I find it funny now that I chose to write on the one that I immediately disregarded, the one that made me wonder how anybody could be in the same room with it for more than five minutes. I am speaking about an exhibit at the Mike Weiss Gallery by the artist Stephanie Pflaum called “see saw”.
This artist chose very unconventional mediums for her artwork. A number of her pieces were made from frames and boxes with delicate lace trims overlapping strands of beads and pieces of newspapers. There were sections on her pieces that were covered in hundreds of tiny beads, pearls, shells and shiny stones that were set into a white background. This may sound dainty and pretty, but her artwork was more complex. Though it was not explained, it appeared as though each of her pieces was distressed by a blowtorch, burned until the pretty boxes and papers became black, disfigured lumps attached to framework. There were handfuls of hair thrown onto the pieces, and then it appeared as though she tried to cover pieces of the burnt artwork by throwing a thick white layer of paint over it. The final pieces had an eerie beauty to them, where you could see the beautiful piece that started underneath, then the burning and then the soothing white.
The pieces drew me towards them. They were all 3 dimensional, and I wanted to reach out and touch them, see if the lace was soft and if the burnt edges of the paper would crumble. As I got closer I felt a bit repulsed, and on some of the pieces with the hair dangling off in clumps like it was pulled out of the shower drain I actually felt a little nauseous and disturbed. I can’t imagine what the artist’s mindset was, how someone’s mind can really work like that. Even though I was so disturbed by the artwork, I feel it was an amazing exhibit because it made me feel a very strong response. I think that’s what the artist was aiming for, that feeling of discomfort, or being out of place and slightly alarmed.
I believe that the overall idea of the pieces was the cycle of beauty made ugly, destroyed, and then redeemed to an extent. I wish the gallery had posted information about the pieces so that I could see if the artist was reflecting a social issue or her own life in her pieces, but then again there was something satisfying in making my own diagnosis for each piece.
After this trip I am convinced that the art scene in New York is thriving and diverse. I saw so many galleries where the pieces did not only seem different from those in the gallery next to them but different from anything I could have ever imagined seeing before.
SIDENOTE: If anyone likes 80’s pop culture art, at DJT Fine Art there is an exhibit called “Best Buddies” which features work by Warhol, Haring, and Basquiat. It was really amazing and worth checking out. (DJT Fine Art 231 10th ave.)