Tyson Reeder
Jack Hanley Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
One guarantee in America is that no matter where you are, there was once a vibrant native community that has been pushed out, rubbed out, or bought out – yet while many are gone, their names still remain. ‘Menomonee Valley’, Tyson Reeder’s exhibition at Jack Hanley, takes its title from an area of Wisconsin named after the region’s Menominee Tribe. The show reflects on both the past and the present of the contested area, and while those paintings rooted in history ring true, the ones of today miss the mark.
Two pieces are based on the many clashes between native armies and Midwestern militias. A watercolour, Battle of Sycamore Creek (all works 2007), has the lovely naiveté of a child’s drawing, but better yet is Skirmish, with barely-discernible figures broken up into dribbling webs of paint, conjuring up fragmentary suggestions like a Larry Rivers painting – only looser, and better for it. Chief Osh Kosh, based on a famous Menominee leader, has all the qualities of a 1960s rock poster, with colours slightly ajar but not too trippy. (Although under black light you’d swear the Chief was speaking to you, man).
Once we get to the modern era, things begin to fall apart. Two works, Bar and Piano, describe a muddy green interior with a shaggy dude facing a woman in profile, none of which is done with any sense of purpose. This is not a space that screams ‘cocktail’ nor, improbably for Wisconsin, ‘beer’. Piano shows off some sloppy hands hovering over a smattering of keys, most likely in some mouldy dive. Add to these a few badly-handled abstract paintings, and things get confused, both conceptually and formally, with the largest work of the show a mess of fluorescents, close to bad student work.
‘Menomonee Valley’ was a perfect opportunity for something very interesting, and if the works of today had some bearing, they would have resonated well with the golden oldies. There must be more to this area today than what Reeder presents. (What of the Menominees today? Are cowboys now filling their casinos?) Like a straight-A student who fell in with the wrong crowd, Reeder needs to go back and hit the books, and hopefully he’ll get his grades up soon.
Jeffrey Ryan
