Gregg Louis "Psychic Ménagerie"
Nohra Haime Gallery
This event has ended.
In the front project space, Louis presents a new video work; "Blots" (2013) consisting of 9 screens all depicting participants in a pseudo psychological experiment. Louis, who serves as the administrator of the test, is featured centrally in the composition and presents a series of abstract shapes on index cards. As he turns each card, he reveals a shape to the participants who then promptly respond with the first word that comes to mind. This result is cacophony of answers. As the video unfolds it becomes more like Hollywood Squares than Freud's couch.
Filling the main gallery are Louis's uncanny "Inkling" sculptures. These strange creatures are constructed out of wigs, horns, and glass eyes. Perched on top of display stands, the sculptures may initially resemble natural history specimens, but upon a closer investigation they become surreal forms that defy any typical scientific taxonomy. Louis says, "The Inkling works came from the idea of cloud gazing. A game many of us as children participated in. You look up towards the sky and allow your imagination to freely associate with clouds that float by you. I think of the Inkling sculptures as my attempt to bring life into those loosely identified shapes by giving them a tangible form. The sculptures that result are often the strange residue of interpretation. "
Also in the main gallery is a selection of prints entitled "Shadows." Using the Rorschach technique, Louis creates mono-prints by folding sunless tanning lotion into sheets of watercolor paper. The images that result depict foreboding mask-like entities that serve as a wink-and-nod to both the Jungian concept of 'shadow self ' & the contemporary absurdity of characters like Tan Mom.
"Psychic Ménagerie" continues the artist's ongoing investigation into perception and ontology; and playfully weaves together darker tones of human psychology with playful references to contemporary pop culture and everyday life.
[Image: Gregg Louis "Inkling No. 10" (2012) foam, metal, tusks, and wigs, 69 x 8 x 9 in.]
Media
Schedule
from March 19, 2013 to April 27, 2013