2 Art Gallery Shows to Explore From Home
UCLA Arts professor Jennifer Bolande named among two shows worth viewing virtually
Galleries and museums are getting creative about presenting work online during the coronavirus crisis. The New York Times recommends two shows worth viewing virtually, including UCLA Arts professor Jennifer Bolande's exhibition at Magenta Plains, through May 31.
Jennifer Bolande’s “The Composition of Decomposition” at Magenta Plains is centered on an installation, “Image Tomb (with skeletons),” in which a stack of newspapers — issues of The New York Times, dating from 2013 to 2015 — is “excavated” with a rectangular hole to reveal a photograph about halfway down. This photo shows half a dozen exhumed skeletons, 14th-century victims of a London plague. It’s a powerful idea: On the one hand, it’s heady, almost exhilarating, to be reminded that the majestic procession of history comprises nothing but days like today. On the other hand, being part of history can also be horrifying, when it means that medieval London is still just down the block.
In “Image Tomb,” a stack of New York Times newspapers is “excavated” with a rectangular hole to reveal a photograph. Jennifer Bolande and Magenta Plains; Object Studies Of course, whether you’re using the virtual showroom or just the gallery’s feed of still images, looking at this piece online is hardly the same as looking in real life. Without the physical presence of the yellowing newspapers, this insight into the nature of time and memory just looks facile. But in a way, that only makes the show even more suited to the moment.
Ms. Bolande’s subject, generally speaking, is the way that the information we take in itself constitutes the world we inhabit. And right now, as we depend on the internet more than ever for our social and aesthetic needs, looking at her thoughtful, exactingly rendered show through a flickering, four-color computer screen is positively chilling.
The New York Times also recommends Feliciano Centurión, on view at Americas Society.— Martha Schwendener and Will Heinrich, Apr. 15, 2020
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the New York Times website.
Read more about Jennifer Bolande.
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