The Wilderness Society installation by Bonnie Brenda Scott goes from paintball splatters to exuberant printmaking–61 pieces of art in all, but who’s counting? After all, the pieces flow into one another all over Nexus; they climb up the windows, roil across the walls and tumble across the floor.
About half a year ago I officially swore off reviewing shows that use deer as symbols of the endangered ecosystem, but I’m making an exception here. There’s a pink plastic (foam?) one with its antlers tangled in yarn and covered with Scott’s version of fur. Nearly everything in the show is covered with this drawing of fur.
I think my fave piece was the installation of a chair with a fur antimaccassar doily and roving bears behind it, wallpapering the corner, a paint-balled tv in front of the chair.
I also liked the three human hunter/target images, also covered in Scott’s signature drawn fur, looking like tattoos. They clarify somewhat the idea of the hunter as the hunted and the unity of man and beast.
The installation is loaded with images big and small, but everywhere there’s a sense of the dissolution of the natural order. My only sadness is to see no video. I really have loved every video I’ve seen by Bonnie, and I was hoping for a little more of it. However, if She thinks the ecosystem has dissolved and she’s worried that the culture has mistaken TV for reality, it’s no wonder that video has fallen out of the picture.
Also at Nexus is uNintended uses, an exhibit of old technology and objects given new life, featuring work by Michiel van der Zanden, Don Miller, Reade Vaisman, Sarah Muehlbauer, Kathy Marmor, Fernando Orellana, Zachary Stadel, Wil Lindsay, Chris Vecchio, Joey Mariano and David Horvitz. This show is presented in conjunction with The Hacktory, those souls of invention (see post here).
I especially enjoyed Reade Vaisman’s flapping, squawking toucan precariously perched on a tripod. The squawks are mixed with machine-gun noise–a nice mix with Scott’s installation.
My other fave was Kathy Marmor’s FANs, a grid of wires with a tiny fan at each nexus. When the fans are activated (they are sporadic), lit-up neon-bright words spin into view. It felt like a brain with ideas firing. I loved being on her grid.
Through March 6
Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art
