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| | Courtesy of Pavel Zoubok Gallery | | | The Great Crash by C. K. Wilde
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Cut it out
A triumphant trio of collage artists — Addie Herder, Robert Warner, and C.K. Wilde — keep the summer cool with scissors, razors and glue.
By JEFFREY CYPHERS WRIGHT
Offoffoff.com
Snip, clip and rip — the art of finding and then arranging bits of ephemera into compelling tableaux forms the bedrock of collage. This summer, three very talented but widely divergent practitioners share the walls at Pavel Zoubek Gallery in Chelsea.
The oldest work in the show is Addie Herder's Circus Wagon from 1964. As the title implies, it is a delightful and fanciful piece. Exotic cigar bands, toothpicks and strips of coiled paper coalesce into a charming rendition of a wagon. Beneath the artist's embossed signature is "Paris, 1964."
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Exhibition: 3.
Works by: Addie Herder, Robert Warner, and C.K. Wilde .
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| SCHEDULE |
June 30 - August 12, 2005
Opening reception: June 30, 2005
Gallery: Pavel Zoubok Gallery
533 W. 23 St.
New York NY
Phone: (212) 675-7490
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In Anti-Romantic we see a shred of a postmark from St. Paul. A handmade circle hangs from a tiny stanchion at the top, mirrored by a larger, rough-cut circle at the bottom. Wafer-thin wood bracketed by bent cardboard gives the work a shrine like 3-d quality.
In Black & White (Quai d'Orleans) bits of coiled and folded paper mimic the precision of origami. Herder referred to the collages from this period as her "machines" and these petite tours de force do work.
Robert Warner's experience as a master printer at Bowne & Company, gives him access to 19th century letterpress materials and images. In several of his collages, he uses antique ledger entries as a seductive background that conjures a bygone epoch. The sepia letters glide and loop elegantly over the old yellowing paper. On top of this rich field are delicate layers of varying materials, colors and textures.
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| | Herder referred to the collages from this period as her "machines" and these petite tours de force do work. |
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Long a member of the celebrated Mail Art community, which includes the late Ray Johnson and John Evans (who also shows at Pavel Zoubok Gallery), Warner's collages maintain a sense of gravitas. They appear quite substantial despite their extraordinary economy and delicacy. Sometimes only a few bits are used in the composition. Balancing the flow of the old letters is a starkly simple reliance on geometry — acute angles, dumbbells, and stripes. A final touch of opaque paint using the pochoir technique — and it all adds up to sweet little suites that sing.
In Untitled #16 (Penland Pochoir), Warner echoes the rectangle cut from the ledger page with two small framing shapes to form a "window." One of the frames is fuchsia peppered with neon green polka dots. The piece resonates with its astute sense of composition and unexpected color scheme.
"Money... it's a drag," but C.K. Wilde has found a new way to use it. And that's all he uses in the new collages. Currency from nearly a hundred countries was "spindled and mutilated" to create his portraits and allegories. Wilde's work is not abstract like his counterparts. It is surreally figurative and yet achieves the political undertow evident in his titles and subjects.
In Money Tree 2 swirling branches, formed from the scrollwork of bills, seem to whisper "Van Gogh." The meticulous and obsessive mosaics made of money are at once stuffy and extremely avant camp. A touch of madness is couched in a tongue-in-cheek attitude. In Wilde's work money does grow on trees!
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JULY 6, 2005
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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