PS 1’s Between Spaces is an exhibition that starts to play in the space between negative and positive in reference to volume, light and line. The artists that have contributed to this show have each, in their own style and approach, manipulated the delicate line between the two. The artists in this show have primarily decided to work with three-dimensionality while only a few found they could find their in-between balance in two dimensions. Conceptually and aesthetic choices come into play while determining how each of these artists have engaged the issues at play. While some of the artists in this show provide a cohesive connection to the main theme, others seem to have completely missed the mark. As the viewer traverses the individual rooms, certain pieces stand out and demand attention as they balance in new ground between was is and what isn’t.
Martin Soto Climent’s series, entitled Blinds, starts to push the boundary of everyday objects as he creates organic compositions displayed in an atypical manner that deviates from being located in normal gallery viewing space. He bends and shapes beige venetian blinds together to distort horizontal lines into a fan of rays stemming from a similar point. These shapes are delicately placed between corners high over doorways and half over windowpanes. Although blinds are typically hung over windows, Climent pushes the function of the blind by turning it into fine art. These contemporary pieces that are hung half over a window creates light that cascades through the overlapping lines and starts to push the balance between the light and dark layered components. This series generates striking imagery of line and light yet falls flat in comparison to the concepts tied to the aesthetic effectiveness with the rest of the show.
This tie between light and line is prevalent in Marc Swanson’s piece Untitled (Window Box). Swanson creates a reflection of light on the floor as if the light was streaming through separate windowpanes in a dark space and casting the beams onto a projected surface. Though under closer inspection, the light is coming from in front of his sculpture of a wooden slats and the photograph of the shattered windows are in front of a solid piece of plywood, unable to allow the projection of light through the material. Swanson is creating an illusion that the photograph of the windows is illuminating the space in front of the sculpture. The first impression yields to the realization of the creation of the piece. This artist plays with the in between by building a fantasy interaction of light, space and volume.
Melanie Schiff’s video is an interesting addition to the collection of spatial images. Schiff literally tries to create volumetric space within her video Perfect Square. Filmed from beneath a swimmer in what appears to be at the bottom of a lake, the viewer watches as the female tries to swim in a perfect square. The square space is never fully achieved and she is constantly swimming on an angle or along curved lines as the lake continues to flood the space with artificial currents. This video is very aesthetically unappealing and tedious until the viewer understands the intention behind the concept of the piece. Once the viewer realizes that she is trying to swim in a specific shape, the connection with space becomes relevant. Even if she was swimming in a perfect square, she would still not be creating a space out of volume since it is a time-based video which consists of a single point traveling a line and thus fits the core ideas behind the exhibition. The concept is word for word what the show hopes to represent yet visually this film seems too forced to fit the requirements of this specific show.
The most astounding piece within the entire show is David Altmejd’s mixed media, Untitled. Altmejd brings together many juxtapositions of visual and conceptual ideas. Within this piece, the artist plays with sharp rigid lines against organic fluid threads and fragments. Taking over an entire room, the artist created an interesting mix of architecture and fine art. He used plexi-glass to divide the space and create smaller rooms within the larger box. These plastic planes intersected hand painted threads, gold chains, and other small found materials. Within the center of the space, a large bird stretched out as it drifts in and out of sectional plastic divisions and organic framework. The body of the creature is a spinal column created from individual plastic vertebrae forms. Large planes of plastic, threads and chains intersect the spine as they create the feathers and wings of the creature. The body shifts seamlessly from the inwards to the outer parts of the being. This piece shifts between the dead and the living in ways displayed in many of Altmejd’s pieces. He has given up his werewolves to create a simpler, more fluid creature that shift between the line of real and invented, although he still relies on his comfortable juxtapositions of beauty verse death, living verse man-made, and sharp lines verse fluid compositions. Untitled is the quintessential piece for creating in between spaces and exemplifies the concept of the P.S. 1 show all on its own.
Within this show, these artists are pushing the boundaries of how sculpture and imagery is defined by space. While all sculptures require the artist to contemplate spatial attributes, these artists are creating dynamic compositions while continuing to question the concepts that require them to work in a three dimensional space. While negative and positive spaces are easy to understand in terms of substance, it leaves the special ambiguity to walk the line of dynamic and conceptual relevance.
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