60SIX - HEIST - VISUAL AID

FABRIC8 - BARBER LOUNGE

09.29.12

(with assistance from Maria Medua and RWM)



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Gallery 60SIX : Julian Hoenig and Oliver DiCicco - New Work.

Review by Maria Medua: Most artists have day jobs. Few have dream jobs like working for Audi, Lamborghini and Apple. Julian Hoenig is that exception. After studying at the Technical College of Design in Graz, Austria and Art Center College in Pasadena, he was hired by Audi. As a senior designer, he worked on the Audi LeMans showcar of '03, as well as the real-world models A4 and Q3. His success in this realm led to a position with Lamborghini. Now an industrial designer at Apple, Hoenig makes art as well as surfboards. His work for the show at Gallery 60six includes one shortboard (the gallery has the perfect illuminated glass floor to display this ivory-colored single stringer), and nine works on paper created in 2012.

There are two paintings on vellum (a smooth, translucent paper). These are done on the verso of automotive technical drawings. The black ink lines of the drawings convey curves, measurements and other notations; all this visual information is contained inside an organizing grid. One of these works entitled, Circle measures 60 x 75 in. The largest element in this piece is a black circle painted with acrylic. Several large black brushstrokes occupy the far right. The parchment color of the vellum contrasted with the rich black gives the work a pleasing aged appearance that belies its origins as an industrial artifact. Meanwhile in Circle #2, the black circle has shifted slightly out of the pictorial space and a vibrant blue dominates. The black circle could be a nod to the fundamentals of all design practice. It is a compositional element on a two-dimensional surface that Hoenig wants to contend with.

Hoenig also uses technical drawings from his life as a designer as the matrix for a series of inkjet prints on paper. Diagrams of car engines are printed repeatedly on the same sheet of paper. Some of the drawing is recognizable and depicts various chains, belts, cylinders, and chambers. He further obscures the drawing by working with car paint which he builds up from the surface and drips on occasion.

Wallpaper #3 is a large vertical mixed media piece (made with wood stain and car paint on mulberry paper). Here the artist goes further afield with good results.

It is tempting to think about how Hoenig's career at Apple informs his painting. Writing in the New York Times, Martin Lindstrom described the intense feelings people have for Apple products as not a form of addiction, but rather of love. Apple, as well as Audi and Lamborghini, set themselves apart from their nearest competitors by focusing on quality and leading-edge design. These products may be loveable because they meet and even exceed our expectations.

Of course, we expect different things from painting than from design. If you enjoy the Color Field painting of the 1950s or geometric abstraction from the 1960s, then you will appreciate this show. Like the artists from these previous decades, Hoenig's adroit handling of color and composition come as second nature to him.

Oliver Dicicco has two pieces of sculpture in the show that work well alongside Hoenig's works on paper. His largest piece, Channel Marker 17 is made of steel, aluminum, copper, glass, wood, delrin (plastic), acrylic tube and a DC motor. It is a kinetic sculpture that also makes sound. Mechanical in appearance, the piece is actually closer to a kind of self-propelled musical instrument. Once it starts, it seems to huff and puff like an automaton trying its best to endear itself to the humans in the room. In the back gallery you can test drive his Orsted's Flux Detector which exploits the reaction between magnets and electric current to create sound.

Review by RWM: Great abstracts. Amazing contraptions which provide movement, wonder and sound. The art is in motion in machines we have never seen or heard before.

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Gallery Heist : A New Autumn Movement - Maga Rincon & Kerry Kelly. Curated by Timothy D. Maguder.

Comment by AB: Kerry Kelly shows drawings from her aptly titled Dirty Girl series. Maga Rincon's crude abstracted portraits and cityscapes are perhaps autobiographical introspections.

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Fabric8 Gallery : Natural Patterns - Gianluca Franzese.

Review by RWM: Amazing art which reminds of Escher, but has gone outside to admire the natural world. One finds here fascinating discoveries made in the natural kingdom. One cannot help but notice the fine workmanship which echoes what has been observed. The use of pigments in gold and copper are also wonderful even if the creatures depicted can be scary. In the wild, some animals have evolved bold and noticeable colorations to remind that they contain poisons. The bees can sting. Nice to see Nature as an inspiration anyway. It is great to see someone notice the intricate beauty that has evolved.

Comment by AB: Some ably executed art here; check it out.

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The Barber Lounge : Fall Art party.

Artists: Prabin Badhia, Terry Beals, Eileen P. Goldenberg, Derek Heinemann, Rebecca Johnson, Jeff Klarin, Paolo Mejia, Deborah Tanaka.

Comment by AB: It's a fall art party as The Barber Lounge celebrates with this annual show.

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