Normally, there are two uses when we think of the word curio: A rare artifact of any possible background, or a large cabinet that contains a collection of these objects.The disparate items create a story, a conversation between the various cultures of origin, which in turn makes a little world of sorts. In a time as fraught as American Life currently is, a person might be drawn to this sort of worldbuilding. An alternative set of rules to exist, inhabit and to think in; the escapism goes hand in hand with art making.
According to the artist himself, Zachary Simonson‘s Curio at Marginal Utility/2C Books sets out to “[…] use preoccupation with everyday patterns of thought as building blocks to construct sanctuaries of play.” Small sculpted, drawn, and painted-on bits of matboard are scattered throughout the gallery, which is really more of a bookstore (more on that in a bit).
When entering the gallery space, you’re immediately faced by “Cabinet of Recurring Dreams,” a piece highly attractive in its medievalist flattening of a three dimensional cabinet. Every compartment of the chest of drawers is open, showing a few scenes and undefinable sculptures. Up close, the drawn and painted details are slightly disappointing in their looseness, but this fact doesn’t take away much from the generally pleasing suggestion of depths and worlds with logic systems beyond ours.
Apart from the focal “Cabinet of Recurring Dreams,” the work is a set of small “drawers” mounted to the walls. They protrude with an invitation to come look down into their shallow bases, which all contain different designs. The imaginary images are Simonson’s curios, his storytelling devices.
All of the drawers have a mix of imaginary and real objects engaged in obscure positions. Take “Push,” one of the drawers. In the design, a border of chubby plants push spores out, which arc up and back down into the four checkered mushrooms that sit in the center of the piece. The make believe details are contrasted below by more plausible images of broken and unbroken glass containers. The nature-based imagery is easily answerable, but what about the glasses? What could they be for? I would hazard a guess that there is some overarching narrative, a domestic situation that contains all the drawers and the cabinet itself.
The library of 2C Books itself is rich with books of literary, art, cultural, and political theory, among other sections of literature and art books. But let’s stick with the theory. Simonson was invited to display some books that inspired the thinking behind this show. The authors of these titles include but are not limited to Erwin Panofsky, Claude Bragdon, Rudolf Arnheim, Umberto Eco, Jorge Luis Borges, and Alfred Jarry. There’s also a Japanese art book on the design elements of Super Mario 64.
Marginal Utility seems more like it’s 2C Books at this point. The exploration of architecture and invented worlds seem to be the clear intention. In spite of this, Curio feels painfully small and constricted by the gallery’s text-centrism. The show feels more a set of ornamentations scattered around the space than an exhibition. The number of texts Simonson attributes to the work almost lessens it into a grouping of intellectual abstractions, rather than embodied pieces about space and architecture. But then, we are all shaped by personally significant sets of media, so why should it bother me, the open display of the conceptual aspects?
Despite this hang up, Curio is an interesting study in miniature worlds and their mysterious possibilities, and well worth a look. It is on view until the end of May alongside the wonderful collection of books for sale.
Curio is a solo exhibition of art by Zachary Simonson at Marginal Utility/2C Books, running March 7 – May 25, 2025. 319 North 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Unit 2C. Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-5pm or by appointment. Ramp accessible.
Read more articles by Corey Qureshi on Artblog.
