The Tribeca Trib: Seven Artists Display "Personal Property" at Art in General

The Tribeca Trib: Seven Artists Display "Personal Property" at Art in General

^{December, 1994}

Art in General is one of those increasingly rare galleries, a non-profit that exhibits emerging or under-represented artists. City, state, and federal budget cuts have pushed the Tribeca space and others like it toward the endangered species list. These spaces are invaluable, for here the artists doesn't have to wory about whether the art is salable and the viewer can glimpse the future.

"Personal Property," the current exhibition, presents seven artists who use sculpture and installations to explore personal issues. While much of the exploration uses a personal visual vocabulary, the ideas dealt with are germane to all: loss, cultural and sexual stereotypes, empowerment, etc. It's a good mix of the particular and the universal. Through a few times the themes looked at are more interesting than the pieces.

Janet Nolan's Serpent is constructed from an old bed spring cut into a 19-foot strip. Within the springs are brightly colored broken bottles, glass beads and small chains. Under the piece is its shadow. With the bottles and beads giving a kaleidoscopic feel, it is a lovely piece. But then one begins to make associations. A bed is for rest, for sleep, for making love, but not if it's full of broken glass. And what of the cheap, glass beads and chains? And then to call it a serpent, and have it cast a serpent-like shadow. So much for paradise. Welcome to the world of good and evil.

How Do You Mourn Your Losses? by Hiram Rodriguez-Mora examines loss and memory. For him memory isn't a monument. It's more personal, like the stitching of the name and date of a first meeting onto a shirt. He's sewn "I Met Bjorn at TAP" or "I Met Ray Painting" etc. on five shirts and placed them over mop handles leaned against the wall. An ironing board with another shirt stands waiting. On a cloth pinned to the wall is sewn "I Get Busy."

There's a feel of life restricted in Robin Levy's evocative piece Ear, Nose and Toes. It consists of muslin covers for ears, nose, and toes in small drawer. There's always something added when objects are placed in a drawer, a feeling of voyeurism, of invading someone's privacy.

Juana Valdés and Wei-in Chen address stereotypes. Valdés's Otra Ves al Mar is a strikingly presented white wedding-like dress merging into a white fish net attached to the floor with a fish hooks. There's an intriguing ambivalence here. Is woman reluctant catch or bait?

Chen's piece Susan's Summer confronts gender and cultural expectations, especially for those with roots in more than one culture. A china figurine representing the prom-queen-blond-hair-blue-eyed beauty rests on a chair. Her arm is broken and there's a child's soapbubble blower besides her. On the floor resting on origami cranes is a painting of a swimming woman blowing bubbles as she surfaces.

Nick Marcos describes his sewn nylon wall pieces as "drawings." Chutes gives a layered and gestural touch to the human figure. It conveys an ethereal, disquieting feeling that the body has dematerialized and we're confronting the life force.