At Nevin Kelly Gallery until October 7th is Peer Pressure, a group exhibition guest curated by D.C. artist Thom Flynn. Of the four artists featured, Sue Huang and Pasqual Sisto hail from UCLA’s Media Arts program, while Carrie Mallory and Baby Martinez reside in D.C. Flynn claims that the impetus for his selection of work was simply to “assemble a group of his peers to size-up contemporary trends in art,” however the show itself seems much more cohesive. With the possible exception of Sue Huang’s Spinach Series, the work in Peer Pressure examines invisible human forces on the natural and man-made world.
Carrie Mallory’s series of four untitled chromira prints demonstrate this most clearly. The four 24” x 36” photographs document Mallory’s “box” series installations in which she forms cubes of yellow and brown leaves on top of an urban rooftop. The cubes are shot in a way that makes them appear large and imposing, however the leaf-cube proportion hints at an estimated overall size of just two feet cubed. The contrast between the forcibly-shaped dying leaves and the drab rooftop form an interesting series of photographs which urge the viewer to ponder man’s influence on nature.
To the left and right of Mallory’s photographs are Pasqual Sisto’s two video installations, which, although they are part of an exhibit busting with very intriguing work, easily steal the show. No Strings Attached features two videos of an unnaturally bouncing and jolting white plastic lawn chair. The top video features the chair doing jerky, repetitive flips against a blue sky, while the bottom video shows the chair on cement ground being kicked, blown or otherwise quickly moved by an invisible force. It is nearly impossible to walk by No Strings Attached without stopping to stare for a good three minutes or more. The piece leaves the viewer wondering about the techniques used to create the video. Was it a blue screen effect? Was there a string attached to the chair (the title would suggest otherwise)? Whatever effect was used, by turning a very ordinary white chair into something quite memorable, Sisto has made his ability to create intriguing video work very clear.
