Bon Jour from Paris!!! This week’s Weekly has my review of Rag and Bnne at Pageant Gallery.
Matthew Osborn, untitled drawing at Pageant’s Rag and Bone.
Rag and Bone, Pageant Gallery’s Winter Invitational, brings together 26 artists, some of them familiar names and some gallery newcomers. The exhibition continues Pageant’s shaggy-around-the-edges aesthetic – drawings pinned to the walls; tv monitors sitting on the floor; sculpture in the gallery’s odd nooks and crannies. It’s a sprawling show and treasures abound.
Matthew Osborn, Financial Oblivion
Matthew Osborn‘s wall of cartoon drawings kept me engaged for quite a while. “Tools are weapons and weapons are tools” says one drawing of an alien-like man in a white shirt and striped tie whose hands shake. Osborn is one part cartoonist one part philosopher like internationally-acclaimed artist David Shrigley whose angsty and verbally-adept works are in this year’s Carnegie International.
Osborn’s drawings evoke Philip Guston as well as Shrigley.
Osborn has his eyes on the world as well as on his inner id. “Financial oblivion” is repeated in one drawing of a man being swallowed by a fat, toothy worm. Osborn, who is a painter, will have a show at Pageant in March, said gallerist Daniel Dalseth.
Sarah Everton’s German Shepherd in a Blanket
Works on paper make up a good part of the show. Sarah Everton‘s drawing German Shepherd in a Blanket features a dog overlaid with a manic diamond pattern that creates an odd fight between the animal and the man-made, the natural and the decorative.
Kate Stewart, Room with a View.
Kate Stewart‘s new photo collages with figures in interior spaces take her work in a great new direction—adding the surreal figures adds interest;
Christopher George‘s Washing Machine Song — lyrics written on a small piece of paper and nailed to the wall — is an odd relic.
Sculptor and installation artist Terry Adkins‘ last solo show with Pageant was a tribute to Bessie Smith; before that Adkins installed a show called Black Beethoven. Here, the artist, musician and performer shows a banner imprinted with the image of Jimi Hendrix‘s face. The banner, which hangs from the ceiling, is edged broadly in red velvet with the Hendrixface printed black on white cloth in the middle. Because Hendrix looks so mournful the piece has a Shroud of Turin affect. However, the red velvet trim – at this time of year at least – brings unexpected visions of Santa Claus. However you read the piece, it’s a voluptuous flag for the dead guitar hero.
Samurai Pill Armor by Zi Ye, on top of Kara Crombie’s video of a tropical beach.
Zi Ye’s Samurai Pill Armor, a found object sculpture made from over the counter pill packs, is outstanding.
Max Mulhern’s two tiny podiums, one of the floor and one on the wall. Note: I’m partial to Mulhern, an artblog pal who’s also on our writing team.
And Max Mulhern‘s wee podium’s for Lilliputian Olympians (one sits on the floor, the other is pinned to the wall) question the value of first, second and third prize. The podium on the wall is for the eleventh, eighth and zero place winners. And indeed why should they not have their rightful moment in the sun (or on the podium as it were).
Rag and Bone, to Jan. 10. Pageant Soloveev Gallery, 607 Bainbridge, 215 925 1535.
