Issue No. 28 – Control

What is the nature of control? The desire for it—and to be free of it—are essential parts of both life and art.

Exhibition Review: "Proximity" at Wilding Cran Gallery

Exhibition Review: "Proximity" at Wilding Cran Gallery

Medicine Wheel by Fran Siegel: Courtesy the artist and Wilding Cran Gallery

By Claire Ping

Drawing an imaginative connection between an artistic process and the concept of re-patching communities, Proximity at Wilding Cran Gallery presents a selection of collage works that may provide inspiration to a world returning gradually and vigilantly to social life. For co-curators Lindsay Preston Zappas and Wilding Cran, the logic behind collages sparks ideas similar to those central to the current state of affairs. Whereas individuals are emerging from lockdown-induced isolation and relearning ways of functioning as a society, the practice of collage involves gathering elements from one’s immediate surroundings to bring forth new visions and arrangements. The group show takes cue from this striking parallel to offer creative solutions towards conceptualizing a collective way forward. 

Proximity connects artists working across a variety of mediums, ranging from sculptures and mixed media installations to wall-based works on paper. The assemblage leads to a broad view on the myriad ways that artists engage with collage, both as methodology and practice. Fran Siegel’s Medicine Wheel combines the cyanotype with scrim, embroidery, sewing, and string to form a large curtain-like net hanging from a white bar. An early photographic printing process popular in Victorian England and used widely for architectural blueprints, the cyanotype is closely intertwined with the history of the medium. Siegel’s refashioning of the format, decorated with images of plants that seem to float amid a sea of cyan-blue, recall the works of Anna Atkins – the 19th century botanist who used the same technique to document her collection of seaweed and became known as the first female photographer.  

Palm Weaving (Watermelon Spritz) by Lindsay Preston Zappas: Courtesy the artist and Wilding Cran Gallery

There Be Monsters Lurking in The House Within by Todd Gray: Photo courtesy Todd Gray Studio

Zappas’ own Palm Weaving (Watermelon Spritz) also joins together an unexpected mix of materials. Hanging from a colored piece of wood, the piece simultaneously makes use of digital photographs on fabric, yarn, acrylic, and paint, among others. Images of hands working on what appears to be palm leaves cover parts of the rug, interspersed with various patterns of knitting and strings of fabric that dangle from the surface. The uneven texture and bright tones give the work an impression of joyous and refreshing vibrancy, echoing the part of its title in parenthesis. 

In a new work titled There Be Monsters Lurking in The House Within, Todd Gray continues his signature use of multilayered picture frames – this time containing four archival prints – to create a surreal composition which draws the viewers in. The contemporary artist, influenced in part by his time working as a personal photographer for Michael Jackson, is recognized for engaging with issues of racial, class, and gender identities to challenge binaries. Likewise employing found images is the Brooklyn-based Canadian artist Jason McLean, whose Broken Heart on the G Line places tape, pieces of a map, and other cut-outs over an aged photograph to produce what may most closely resemble a “collage” in its familiar form. 

Broken Heart on the G Line by Jason McLean: Courtesy the artist and Wilding Cran Gallery

Juxtaposing a diverse assortment of works linked by the concept of collage, Proximity appears to evoke questions on both conceptual and physical distance in light of the “new normal” in which we now find ourselves. Using collage as a metaphor that “celebrates a fluid and shifting ground as a means to explore new contexts,” the exhibition challenges us to reconsider our realities under constantly evolving circumstances.

Exhibition Review: Philipp Schmitt's Tunnel Vision/Declassifier

Exhibition Review: Philipp Schmitt's Tunnel Vision/Declassifier

Exhibition Review: The Human Cost: America’s Drug Plague

Exhibition Review: The Human Cost: America’s Drug Plague