dichroma
@ Pentagon
2655 W Homer St, Chicago, IL 60647
Opening Friday, March 18th, from 7PM - 11PM
On view through Tuesday, April 5th
Pentagon Gallery’s fourth show presents to the viewer a visual dichotomy. It is both stark and subtle, clear and opaque. The color presents just the first juxtaposition of the pieces; however, much more is lying underneath. The absolute intensity of the red room finds itself next to pieces that just barely exist, making them all the more powerful. Moreover, the space itself is split in two: yet the combination brings the show together in one balanced environment, making present and minimizing the sheer tension between the pieces.
From Jason Smith: What are the visual ways you might interpret thoughts about reading without written language? What does it mean to be “well read”? What kind of information does one need to accumulate knowledge? Where would you find it? I began to think about objects, and metaphors, and contexts to create an installation that would visualize the aspects of this effort. The more I thought about it the more I realized how complex this piece could become. Then it occurred to me, rather than focus on many different elements, I would focus on one, color. The obvious choice was red.
In their ongoing collaborative project, Leo Kaplan and Caroline Carlsmith paint almost invisible murals of clear gel medium onto flat, white gallery walls. Nearly impossible to see as a whole, figures shift into and out of focus as the viewer moves and light catches on one part of the painting, then another. As the images resolve themselves they reveal boxers in the climax of violence, falling and bleeding; a faint sheen on the plain walls.
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