Jariya Phongsai
Prof. Valerie Mendelson
Class: HUN195.6046
Date: 03/28/09
Assignment : First show review paper
Review on the Sculpture Center
Sculpture Center was found by artists in 1928 and located in Long Island City,
Queens. Sculpture Center is a non-profit arts institution contributes to experiment and
innovative developments in modern sculpture. In addition, Sculpture Center presents
exhibits by talented and established, nation and international artists. Presently, Sculpture
Center presents the exhibition called “The space of the Work and the place of the
Object.” The exhibition represents in group shows by the artists include Walead Beshty,
Melanie Gilligan, Gabriel Kuri, Michael Rakowitz, Blake Rayne, Karin Schneider,
Simon Starling, and Carey Young. It is a group exhibition that considers the status of the
art object within the context of its production.
Obviously, the artists build on the idea of development art and provide work for
methods that range from documentary to literary. In this exhibition, the entire artists
make the artworks that reflect the fact, present and gaps of their product. Each work is
concerned with the conditions and in which art and meaning are made and turn them to
their advantages. The artworks include Walead Beshty’s “Federal Express”, “Silver
Paticle/Bronze” by Simon Starling, Rakowitz has created “Return”, Gabriel Kuri’s “That
Run Through”, The relationship between artwork, viewer and presenter of Carey Young,
“Bicycle Grinder” by Blake Rayne, a performance and installation by Melanie Gilligan
called “Prison for Objects” , and the last is Karin Schneider’s “Tubular”.
Personally, I am interested in the artwork called “ Federal Express” of Walead
Beshty. The works are made by shipping a glass box made to fit exactly inside the
Federal Express boxes. Later, the boxes are shipped via Federal Express and displayed
together with the shipping box in any designs. The work is made and remade several
times and display. After shipping, the glass inside the Federal Express box is broken in
different condition. The artworks hold my attention because they remind me of the
damage and risk of shipping object via Federal Express. Recently, people always decide
to ship objects or material through different delivery companies because of quickly and
inexpensive. Normally, I always send presents and objects back to my hometown for my
family by shipping via Federal Express because of its convenience and prompt and I have
never had any terrible experiences of loosing or damaging my deliveries. The artwork
reminds me to be more carefully about delivering and try not to send sensitive items and
important.
In the opposite side, I find objectionable for “Prison for Object” by Melanie
Gilligan which is a performance and installation dramatizes our experience of
commodities in the past and present. I feel that a few artworks do not belong to the group,
especially the images of objects from the Renaissance to the 18th century. Although, the
idea of the artist by presenting an actress and actor perform the roles of an art writer and
artist respectively, their characters playing out various contradictions of art production
and reception is outstanding but it is difficult to observe the connection between all the
arts work in the group. I really disagree with the idea of putting the images from
Renaissance to the 18th century in the group because it does not give any senses of the
experiences of production in the past and relate to the idea of the artist. I personally have
the idea that the artist tend to show the idea of the past through the images which could
done in the different ways. For example, I would decide to put the activities of the artist
performance from the past because I think that could obviously demonstrate the artist’s
idea.
However, I like the majority of the exhibition because I realize that all the
artworks are created by spirit. Each the artwork represents all the different meaning but
all of works have the value and meaning of itself. All the artworks in each group clearly
represent the meaning of art and what is art for me. I am really enjoyed visiting the
Sculpture Center and this is the first museum that I have ever gone so far in New York.