a light snow is falling in new york city, as i walk the 5 blocks to the local
newsstand in the greenpoint section in brooklyn, and for 75 cents pick up
today's copy of the nytimes. congratulations to all the artists who made the
show possible!
xoxo<cristine wang>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[from The New York Times, January 5, 2001
"Art in Review" Review by Holland Cotter]
"Dystopia and Identity in the Age of Global
Communication"
Tribes Gallery
285 East Third Street
East Village
Through Jan. 13
Old-style alternative spaces, where disciplines messily collide and visually
anything goes, are a dying breed in Manhattan. Thread Waxing Space in SoHo
still holds the proud banner high, as is evident in its group show, the
bracingly anarchic "Death Race 2000." And so, on a more intimate scale, does
Tribes Gallery, which is host to exhibitions, jazz concerts and poetry
readings in a second-floor railroad- style flat
between Avenues C and D.
Tribes's latest offering has ambitions as big as the venue is small.
Organized by Cristine Wang, it squeezes itself into three rooms, climbing
up walls and spilling from shelves. Three dozen or so international artists,
several well known, jostle for attention. Some make out better than others,
but all get to have their say, at least when the audiovisual components are
up and running. (The gallery will be happy to turn on
whatever looks off.)
Where to begin? A Mike Bidlo piece near the front door, with a print of
Duchamp's infamous "Fountain" pasted on a page from the Manhattan phone book,
sets a Dadaist tone for much of what follows, while digital prints by Betty
Beaumont and Shu Lea Cheang establish the Internet as the prevailing source
of imagery. Verbal communication gets a comedic workout in photographs of the
Chinese artist Zhao Bandi chatting up a toy panda and in seductively nutty
audio pieces by Mark Amerika and Tina LaPorta.
Networking assumes dire implications in the conspiracy-theory charts by Mark
Lombardi, who died in March, while politics take a dystopian plunge in
rough-hewn propaganda posters by the estimable Peter Fend. ("Puppet for
Prez," reads one.) Christoph Draeger's video compendium of fiery explosions
provides apocalyptic spice and is neatly complemented by a Roxy Paine
meltdown sculpture and an attractive puzzlelike painting in orange and purple
by Jeremy Stenger.
The whole show, in fact, feels like a disjointed puzzle, or maybe a
conversation in which a bunch of smart, quirky voices are headed in
different, sometimes arcane directions. The voices don't mesh, but they
produce a strong collective buzz. And that buzz will go live tomorrow night
when Ms. Wang leads a panel of artists, critics and curators in a discussion
titled "The Presentation of Online Art in Physical Space."
(--Reviewed by Holland Cotter, The New York Times)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
