December 14, 2023
Stephen Neidich
Lost Mix Tapes
Wilding Cran Gallery
November 4, 2023 - January 6, 2024
Stephen Neidich
For his past exhibitions at Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles based sculptor Stephen Neidich has created kinetic works. In 2019, he activated the gallery space by installing more than two-dozen metal chains that dangled from ceiling to floor, clicking and clanging in discordant harmony as they were dragged over a pile of concrete fragments placed in a circle on the floor below. For his 2021 exhibition, sensors triggered subtle movements of hand-crafted Venetian blinds augmented with LED lights to create an ever changing array of color and movement within the room. His current exhibition, Lost Mix Tapes is quiet. None of the wall-based sculptures move, yet they still command the space as strange objects infused with wit and intelligence. Spanning the walls are dysfunctional rusted steel Venetian blinds that exude character and personality. Who would have thought a Venetian blind could wink?
All The Answers Are In That Book (all works 2023) is a wall-based sculpture consisting of thirteen horizontal rusted steel strips tethered together like blinds with nylon cord and secured to the wall by metal brackets. The piece appears to be stuck in a partially open position and has seen better days, as many of the slats sag and sway between their supports. Two of the slats are bent and may imply an eye or mouth shaped portal. All The Answers Are In That Book could conceivably be functional, while many of the other pieces are purposely exaggerated. Oh, Is It Your First Time? is extremely long (28 feet) and spreads out from the top of a wall more than half-way across the gallery floor. While its rusted surfaces allude to the tones and textures of abstract expressionist painting, its material and form recall minimalist sculptures like those of Richard Serra and Carl Andre.
In We're Taking 3 Cars and Not No, Neidich twists the bottom half of the sculptures steel slats so they echo the shape of oversized intersecting folded paper hand fans. Almost everyone has encountered Venetian blinds that misbehave and Neidich exaggerates these occasions— like when one side rises but not the other (How Quickly You Forget). I Can Tell You But I Can't Explain It feels more like an unsafe floating broken foot bridge with its supports completely out of whack.
Neidich's works are serious and humorous simultaneously. His titles, including the title of the exhibition, Lost Mix Tapes are ambiguous and seemingly unrelated to the sculptures. Mixtapes are a thing of the past, while Venetian blinds are still in use as everyday items. By casting them in steel, Neidich negates their vulnerability, but solidifies their dysfunction. In doing so, there is a human quality to the work, as well as a sense of familiarity, perhaps like those Lost Mix Tapes, something still yearned for and forever embedded in memory.
Lost Mix Tapes
Wilding Cran Gallery
November 4, 2023 - January 6, 2024
Stephen Neidich
For his past exhibitions at Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles based sculptor Stephen Neidich has created kinetic works. In 2019, he activated the gallery space by installing more than two-dozen metal chains that dangled from ceiling to floor, clicking and clanging in discordant harmony as they were dragged over a pile of concrete fragments placed in a circle on the floor below. For his 2021 exhibition, sensors triggered subtle movements of hand-crafted Venetian blinds augmented with LED lights to create an ever changing array of color and movement within the room. His current exhibition, Lost Mix Tapes is quiet. None of the wall-based sculptures move, yet they still command the space as strange objects infused with wit and intelligence. Spanning the walls are dysfunctional rusted steel Venetian blinds that exude character and personality. Who would have thought a Venetian blind could wink?
All The Answers Are In That Book (all works 2023) is a wall-based sculpture consisting of thirteen horizontal rusted steel strips tethered together like blinds with nylon cord and secured to the wall by metal brackets. The piece appears to be stuck in a partially open position and has seen better days, as many of the slats sag and sway between their supports. Two of the slats are bent and may imply an eye or mouth shaped portal. All The Answers Are In That Book could conceivably be functional, while many of the other pieces are purposely exaggerated. Oh, Is It Your First Time? is extremely long (28 feet) and spreads out from the top of a wall more than half-way across the gallery floor. While its rusted surfaces allude to the tones and textures of abstract expressionist painting, its material and form recall minimalist sculptures like those of Richard Serra and Carl Andre.
In We're Taking 3 Cars and Not No, Neidich twists the bottom half of the sculptures steel slats so they echo the shape of oversized intersecting folded paper hand fans. Almost everyone has encountered Venetian blinds that misbehave and Neidich exaggerates these occasions— like when one side rises but not the other (How Quickly You Forget). I Can Tell You But I Can't Explain It feels more like an unsafe floating broken foot bridge with its supports completely out of whack.
Neidich's works are serious and humorous simultaneously. His titles, including the title of the exhibition, Lost Mix Tapes are ambiguous and seemingly unrelated to the sculptures. Mixtapes are a thing of the past, while Venetian blinds are still in use as everyday items. By casting them in steel, Neidich negates their vulnerability, but solidifies their dysfunction. In doing so, there is a human quality to the work, as well as a sense of familiarity, perhaps like those Lost Mix Tapes, something still yearned for and forever embedded in memory.