Fall Solos 2010 @ Arlington Arts Center
Image of "Grid of Six" by Kathleen Shafer
In an interview published in Whole Earth Review back in the summer of 1989, acclaimed science fiction and cyberpunk author William Gibson (who we caught up with last week during his U.S. book tour) commented regarding his work: "The world we live in is so hopelessly weird and complex that in order to come to terms with it, you need the tools that science fiction develops." Or, often enough, it is visual art that frames our complexities and provides the tools, as with the work in Fall Solos 2010, on display at the Arlington Art Center through November 7.
Kathleen Shafer, the Trawick Prize's Young Artist Award winner of 2007, presents an engaging spatial study of the geographies of airfields. Her photographs of landing strips and control towers aren't particularly exciting on their own -- they gain momentum as diptychs or combined into grids with her angular diagrams that selectively delineate the unnaturally straight lines of the photographed scenes. Together, Shafer's work seems to simultaneously propose documentary materials and science-fictional allusions.
Image of "Desk Jockey" by Matt King, photo by Terry Brown.
Matt King's sculptures reference the world of object design and play with the idea of functional symbolism through the re-use of familiar forms and materials. Referencing common domestic furniture, the piece titled Desk Jockey invites us to retrieve functional information from its formal cues, yet it remains firmly distant and unfamiliar in its elaborate craft aesthetic, largely removed from the mass-production context of IKEA.
The show isn't without some question marks: Moments, John Henry Blatter's wall of thrift store speakers wired to produce a cacophony of narrated stories, is nearly as confusing as the chorus it emanates. And Tim Portlock's virtual cities, created by combining photography and landscapes simulated through CAD renderings, aren't too far removed from renderings of Google technology.
But as a unit and in full mixed-media stride, Fall Solos 2010 is a tight and adventurous show.
The Arlington Arts Center is located at 3550 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington. Fall Solos 2010 is on display through November 7.