Introductions3 at Irvine Contemporary
At Irvine Contemporary is Introductions3, a group exhibition featuring works of thirteen recent MFA grads from art schools across the country. According to Gallery Director Martin Irvine, Introductions3 is the first show of its kind at a commercial gallery, since similar shows stick to regional artists; instead Irvine branched out and reviewed 300 emerging artists nationwide. The selections were narrowed to 60 before a panel of art collectors committed to the final 13 emerging artists, hailing from from schools such as the Cranbrook Academy, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the San Francisco Art Institute, among others.
The artists in Introductions3 were chosen for their professional-level quality without preference for medium. The selection panel sought artists who were pushing their chosen medium in new directions and asking good questions with their work. Additionally, Irvine states that art today "is all about context," and that artists who show an awareness of contemporary art and fit well into that context have an advantage with collectors. While this show certainly piques one's curiosity, much of the work in Introductions3 would greatly benefit from having a larger space to fill.
Several of the pieces in Introductions3 leave you wanting more. At first, I walked right by Erin Colleen Williams' two pieces, Sonance Amplication Agent and Minnie Gramophone and Replacement Heart, possibly because they were so lifelike and reminiscent of a Thomas Edison exhibit at the American History Museum that I felt like I'd walked right by them once before as a child on a museum field trip. When I came back to them, I found myself wanting to see a whole room stocked full of these crazy inventions, as if walking into an inventor's laboratory. One can see the potential energy in Williams' creations, but viewing them in the context of a group show left me both underwhelmed and yearning for more.
Maura Brewer's work also left me curious. At first glance, one may think her Tuxedo Study is merely another white modernist sculpture, but the two drawings accompanying her sculpture, Instructions for Folding a Shirt (Blue) and Instructions for Folding a Shirt (Pink), add a new dimension to the work. The drawings give instructions for creating the sculpture, which is formed out of a man's dress shirt. They reference craft instruction books with their hand-drawn illustrations of each fold and glue application accompanied by handwritten text further explaining how to complete the project. Given their names and the color choices of pink and pastel blue, the work also clearly references ideas and expectations of femininity.
On the back wall of the gallery is a series of glass pieces by Sarah Rebekah Byrd Mizer. Titled Growth Chart, the work features individually scripted words and phrases created out of clear glass and mounted with pins onto the wall. Two ceiling-mounted spotlights create reflections that add to the subtlety of the work. Growth Chart features private wishes, including "to be taller," "a job," "dancer," and "a tomato from grandpas garden." There is something quite unpretentious about Mizer's piece. One can easily imagine the words mounted above a mantle just as easily as they fit into the context of a high end gallery.
With the abundance of installation and sculptural work in Introductions3, it is nice to see Rocky McCorkle's three 24 x 28 inch photographs. The images, which read as film stills, tell the story of an elderly silver-haired woman in a turquoise winter coat whose stares hint at her inner dialogue. In Still 17, she gazes out a window at a city's rooftops and windows of varying heights. In front of her is a younger man in a blue sports jacket, as well as a table strewn with items such as a robot toy, change, half a grapefruit, a thermos. Still 11 takes place in another setting, but also features a cluttered table and a man in the background. The woman's gaze is curious. Is she contemplating the changing urban landscape or the progression of life? Is she remembering a fond moment or a sad one? Her still stare hints at these questions, leaving the viewer unsure but intrigued.
All images are courtesy of Irvine Contemporary.
Introduction3 will be at Irvine Contemporary through September 8. The gallery is located at 1412 14th Street, NW and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.