[Note: I’ll come back and put more links and pictures in later. You can see pictures of the entire show at my flickr site.]
Story Time
Maybe you know it already but here it is, the plot summary of “Logan’s Run” 1976 starring Michael York, Farrah Fawcett and Peter Ustinov. The movie was the trigger for the Logan’s Run exhibit curated by Damian Weinkrantz at Padlock Gallery (see previous post).
(image is Kris Chau‘s “Run Farrah Run” ink and graphite on paper. Farrah plays an attendant in the face replacement spa in the movie. Logan goes there to get a new face.)
Plot Summary
(Thanks to imdb for nice abstracts of the movie.)
It is 2274. Some type of holocaust has decimated the earth, and the survivors sealed themselves into a domed city near Washington, D.C. To maintain the population balance, the computers that run the city have decreed that all people must die at 30. This system is enforced by “sandmen” : black-clad police operatives who terminate (kill) “runners” (those who attempt to live beyond 30).
Logan, a sandman, is sent on a mission to find “sanctuary,” which is a code- word used by the master computer to describe what it believes is a place to which runners have been escaping. Logan begins to question the system he serves and after seeing for himself that there is life beyond the dome, he returns to destroy the computer.
(image is Jonathan Weiner‘s “Sandman” graphite on paper.)
3-0
Making art about the fear of turning 30 (or 40, 50, 80 come to think of it) is a great idea for an exhibit. But fltering the thoughts and art through the lens of Logan’s Run, one of the most loopy sci-fi movies ever, reined in the fear and focused it on that metaphorical zone where art does best. So instead of introspective angst-laden navel-gazing stuff instead you get work that’s zippy, cartoony and funny or arch.
(image is Caitlin Kuhwald‘s “group of hands one,” gouache and ink on paper, showing the 30-somethings’ hands with electronic implants in them which turn red when the person nears age 30.)
Ever since Leonardo there’s been sci-fi art. In the 20th Century artists like Alexis Rockman — and a lot of the Juxtapoz/Jonathan Levine crowd (including Jonathan Weiner who’s in this show) — mine the territory of space and the future fantastic. It’s a good place to be especially now with artificial limbs and pacemakers; cloning and gene therapies; induced comas, pandemics and voice-command software are part of the news and of our collective mindscape.
Run
Running is a big motif in a movie all about running. Hands are also big. (Characters in the movie have electronic implants in their hands that change color as they age and when they’re approaching 30 the color is red — and that’s when the assassins start chasing them to kill them.)
David Dunn‘s video piece “Logansfun, Explogansrun” (image above) takes clips from the film and clones Logan running for his life.
Dunn miniaturized the runner and turned the sequence into what looks like a decorative motif of tiny people appearing to emanate like laser beams from the eyes of another character. I’ve never seen anything quite like it and I’m sorry my picture doesn’t do it justice. (image above is another shot from Dunn’s video, this time focusing on hands — and runners)
Robot
Max Lawrence‘s circuit box icon (pictured with Curator Damien Weinkrantz pushing buttons) is sweet and who doesn’t love to push buttons and play with the art? Unfortunately the piece is not for sale. Lawrence also made an audio piece based on the movie using some robotic voice technology (the software that generates the robo-voices that answer phones). Lawrence’s audio was played at the opening where it collided with the movie’s soundtrack and made for some eerie listening.
Orgy
There’s a brief, tame orgy scene in the movie and Thom Lessner‘s screenprint on glass mounted in front of crumply tin foil (pictured) captures the lackluster spirit of the movie orgy perfectly. Completely unsexy in a deadpan sexy way.
Clothing
In a movie full of oddball clothing (from spandex to what look like Roman togas) it’s appropriate that some art tackles the fashion front. Adrienne Manno‘s “Perfect World” jacket embroidered with a motif from the movie is a standout piece. Not only does it signal sympathy for the plight of 30-somethings but it also announces the wearer’s status (instead of hiding it.) (image is Manno‘s jacket under Alex Da Corte‘s word piece)
Manno’s jacket is joined by two more pieces about the fashion realm of running from 3-0. Two drawings by Heather Jo Wingate, one a paper doll with cut out clothes and the other, a graphite on paper drawing of panties with a pulsing red electronic dot in the center are elegant and smart. (image is Wingate‘s panties drawing.)
Weinkrantz, curated Lubrica Mi Vida at Ashley Gallery. His talent round-up here is solid and the output is great. Others in the show are: Aron Wohl, Carrie Powell, Miriam Singer, Jayson Musson, Jesse Goldstein, Emily Glaubinger, Luke Ramsey, Brielle Duym, Tim Gough, Chris Ward, Annette Monnier. Laura McDade contributed an essay.
And long-overdue kudos for the hard-working Padlock Gallery crew:Molly McIntyre, Ted Passon and Q who started it in 2004 and Charlie Cottone, who came on board later. Passon and David Dunn run Small Change film screening enterprise and SC is having a screening of some animations with live music and performances Saturday, Jan. 21, 9 pm. at Vox Populi. $7
The evening’s called “Art Nerds and Band Geeks: and the bill of fare is attractive: Andrew Jeffrey Wright will have an animation and performance; three animations by Brent Green with live soundtrack by French Toast. (Green just got a Creative Capital grant and will be screening things at Sundance, Passon told me.) Also animations by Juliet Wayne (whose art in city hall case I found intriguing) with live soundtrack by Bulkhead.
So, to reiterate, Logans is a great show. To get in and see it email the curator at simplesemantics@yahoo.com.
