it gets better, but no bigger, than this
mechanical loo artist at work
neo neo geo?
getting it all together for art
Barry McGee's installation at Deitch, which is around the corner and down the street from Swoon's, was well lighted by skylights yesterday, and there was lots of room to go around, so the camera and I had a ball. But while the show was very entertaining, in a guy-kid, hazardous amusement park kind of way, I went away feeling that not much had really happened.
But it was fun. A bit too lifeless at first, it got better when the huge space filled up with people while we were there.
I almost giggled at the auto junkyard which confronts you after you enter the gallery through an overturned van truck, I liked the massive expanse of geo stuff, I did shiver a bit when I stepped into the very realistic messy loo, and I was amused by the animated figures. I confess the ubiquitous painted sad-eyed men never really got to me before, so I wasn't disappointed to find they had been somewhat eclipsed in this installation, even if I'm not sure by what.
Both artists work with and in the street, but while McGee's sources are apparently much more specifically the world of outcasts and his materials are very real, it's Swoon's paper creations which evoke a truly visceral response to a city usually hidden from most of us.