Paddy Johnson at Time Out New York: The Ideal Cloud at the ISE Cultural Foundation

by Art Fag City on June 19, 2008 Events

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In addition to my posting notice, my review of the Ideal Cloud at the ISE Cultural Foundation can be read at Time Out this week. An excerpt below.

In contrast to the compact pieces in Andrea Rosen's “1950s—1960s Kinetic Abstraction” exhibit last summer, the works offered by three contemporary artists in “The Ideal Cloud” are sprawling, mechanized sculptures. These pieces depart from the formalist foundations of art and technology by engaging with sentimentality. Ordinarily this would spell trouble, but whatever maudlin qualities the show might have had are offset by either the materials employed or the opportunity for audience participation.

For example, Emcee C.M., Master of None's project inviting viewers to express their thoughts on a typewriter sitting alongside a small projected film, evokes a little too much nostalgia for the medium. However, the messages—observations ranging from PAVEMENT IS A GOOD BAND to I DIDN'T WANT TO BE A CHEERLEADER FOR ART, NOW I CHEER FOR MYSELF—add a surprising layer of unpredictability to the piece.

Ian Burns and Miguel Palma demand less interaction from the audience. The delicate perfection of Burns's live video feed of a tiny nondescript flag flying against a rotating salad bowl reveals a pride of ownership and a sense of national identity imposed on common objects.

To continue reading click here.

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