What Do You Care?
Mary Goldman Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Alejandro Diaz, Jesus/Cheeses-Mobile (2006)
While ‘What Do You Care?’ initially sounds like a cynical, in-your-face title, this charming three-man group show is anything but, the works exuding a goofy zeal. In the window of the gallery Alejandro Diaz’s white neon sculpture announces ‘Naked Artist Inside’ (Naked Artist Inside, 2007), poking fun at many a performance artist’s one-note gigs; his Jesus/Cheeses–Mobile (2006) is low-tech Nauman, comprising shingles of cardboard dangling from strings with the words ‘Jesus’ or ‘cheeses’ written on each side, the sacred meeting the mundane in rhyme with absurd results. These works deal deftly with language and humour, but, more importantly, they involve an element of play. In Diaz’s case it is in the form of simple jokes, but in the works of the other two artists, whether sporty or spa-like, there is more a ‘fun-in-the-sun’ direction.
Andrew Lewicki’s sculptures, his Walnut Skate Ramp and Gold-Plated Skate Rail (both 2007), are ready for skateboarders to jump off or slide along, but instead of plywood and steel they are finely crafted from high-end materials. The burnished wood and polished gold are not so much bling as a utopian prospect: in a perfect world, perhaps we’d have 14-carat rails for all kids to grind on, and dovetailed joinery to practice their tailslides! The gallery space is transformed by Amir H. Fallah’s installation Welcome to the Love Healing Center (2008), in which the interior of a tiny grey shopfront is covered in an eye-popping fluorescent yellow. Inside this shed are cacti in ceramic pots and terrariums filled with succulents, sitting atop homespun pedestals on a floor covered with rocks.
Andrew Lewicki, Gold-Plated Skate Rail (2007)
What kind of healing comes from all this is unclear, but the works shown in ‘What Do You Care?’ are certainly close to what Richard Serra said art should be: ‘purposefully useless.’ This is best summed up in Diaz’s Broodthaers-referencing Birds’ Museum of Non-representational Art (2007), a white maquette of a museum space. Inside are several miniature galleries showing small abstract sculptures, all made from crumpled aluminum, while the audience is a group of colourful model birds. Looking at them gazing at tiny abstractions reminds us of ourselves. While work as delightfully ludicrous as this may not actually heal us, in the same way as a Californian spa, it certainly helps.
Jeffrey Ryan
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