Lancelot Link's De-evolution Revolution - With Birds
Themes from popular science are mined with varying success as metaphorical devices. Understanding of the world through science in popular culture is usually done at a museum. Misako Inaoka's sculptural tableaus of animatronic birdlike figures allude to natural history, permutations in physical morphology and abstract physical examination. The show at Steven Wirtz Gallery looks like an abstracted display of an ornithological beastiary. Specimens are arranged in the suggestion of a classification. Familiar elements abound but order is confounded by a mix of egg shapes and a goulash of very different forms like pigs. This absurd Linnean taxonomy bring to mind naturalist dioramas or Darwin's Galapagoes island study of bird beak adaptations. The setup includes vegetative forms in wooden and glass display cases enhancing this impression. Branches painted in primer white extend mutely from the walls overhead while light sensitive bird figures, chirp when visited up close. Anything animorphic that is not green or a display case is painted white. The chirping and deadness of the white mingle to suggest a charmingly taxidermed zombie freak show. Self conscousness of observation in Inaoka's work seems to be a consistent theme. At Mill's it was peepholes and work at the current Queens Nails show in the mission it's a porthole in the ceiling - apparently planned before the Wirtz show. Inside the porthole at the top of a ladder reveals a mossy landscape. Less obvious gauches near the ladder portray morphed avian forms in colors that seem to meld and melt into some ambiguous elasticity. The exhibit at Wirtz seems to achieve this aim with the least amount of artifice and much more wonder. Laurie Reed's works on paper also featured at Wirtz fill the main gallery with a quietly energetic and formal tone. Large paper is scored with damp water that is very slightly tinted. Color here is barely present but is not what gives dimension to the linear composition. The wet markings have buckled the paper at the site of the painters action raising it off the flat plane of the paper creating terrestrial viens. These impose a structure which competes with the notion that these marks are just simple lines. Even under brief consideration the impression making on the surface can be clearly imagined as they buckle the flat plane. The difference in the current work of this CCA graduate with past pieces is subtle but progressive. Here Reed chooses an arena which distinguishes her work from others. Divorcing herself from the organic looking shapes she's indulged in before she chooses to completely span the page. Focusing on the generation of simple lines she manages to achieve an architectural form both grand and simple in beauty. Wirtz Gallery is located on the 3rd Floor at 49 Geary Street in San Francisco.
http://www.wirtzgallery.com
