Volume One, Issue 16, January 12 - 18, 2007
Chelsea: arts&lifestyles
Courtesy Claire Oliver gallery
Sam Gibbons, “Cakehead,” 2006, acrylic on panel, 54 x 68 x 3/4”
Talking shop with Claire Oliver
By Shane McAdams
It takes several exhibitions at the same gallery for anyone to begin to recognize anything that might be considered a “pattern,” and it was no different for me with Claire Oliver’s gallery. Even after a string of great shows I’d seen there, such as Peter Drake’s soft-focus and sentimentalized views of stripmall culture in “SUBurbia,” and the high-key and off-color exuberance of Amy Morken’s “Backwards Diving,” it was difficult for me to determine her sensibility. My assumption, based on what I viewed there over the past two years, was that Claire Oliver’s mission was to be as miscellaneous and unpredictable as possible. Then I began to register the importance of the human form in her shows.
Calling her gallery “figurative” would be inappropriate, as the word usually connotes something more conservative. But the human presence is its psychological heart. Exhibitions such as Phyllis Bramson’s “When the Body Speaks Its Mind” and Richard Stipl’s “Bloc Sabbath,” exemplify Oliver’s insistence on using the figure as a conceptual and emotional vehicle. The “human” aspect that you take away from shows in her gallery is important as it relates to the “human condition,” according to Ms. Oliver. Indeed, the flesh in her gallery always functions as a package for the mind and heart, and by extension, as a gateway into deeper social and psychological issues — a gateway often lined with jarring, garish, surreal, and even unnerving art. Oliver’s current show by recent Hunter grad Sam Gibbons features a semi-pornographic and garishly colored bouquet of cartoonish pigs and abstract figures. Their Looney-Tunes innocence soon yields to something more disturbing once the phallic details become clear.
Due in large part to shows such as Gibbons’ at the gallery, I guessed that Ms. Oliver would be somewhat of an eccentric, perhaps even decadent person. In reality, Ms. Oliver is one of the most gracious and centered gallerists I’ve spoken with. It seems that her eccentricities are channeled into the art she gravitates to — and the art-viewing world is eagerly following.
Here’s what Ms. Oliver has been thinking about lately:
Sam Gibbons
Sam is our current show, which is coming down on Sunday. He is only 25 years old, a mere year out of grad school, and this is his first solo gallery show. How exciting — utterly thrilling — to sell out your first show in 90 minutes, in front of your mom and dad who flew in from Ohio to be at the opening. The work is visually, jawdroppingly complex and perfectly crafted. Gibbons presents these dynamic three-dimensional works painted on cut out wooden panels. These works summon our natural associations to the vividly colored characters of our childhood, drawing us into a raw, violent, deadly, and sexual side of the human condition in classic Post Modern satirical form. Sam is smart, hard-working and well spoken. Well, the work speaks for itself and the reaction from collectors and curators and critics has been very gratifying.
More Drama and Beauty, Less Detachment
[I would like] a return to drama and beauty in works of art. I have always responded from the gut when I look at art. I want to feel emotion — feel alive and thankful to be so — when I am standing in front of a work of art. [I like to see] humanity, passion, sympathy, compassion, betrayal, anger, and yes, beauty, laid bare in front of us to interpret and digest as we choose.
Carson Fox
Our February solo show is Carson Fox. She is a brilliant free thinker — you can’t put her in any box, it is not possible. She calls herself “unfaithful to any media” — ha! — as in, she will “use” any media that gets her point across. She just brought into the gallery the first load of cast resin flowers for her exhibition (as they need to be photographed for the invite.) “Candyland,” the title of her show, will consist of the entire wall of the gallery covered in these amazingly sick and beautiful and phallic and delicious looking, glitter-encrusted flowers — over 3,500 of them! They range in diameter from two inches to 12 inches in circumference and stand away from the wall around 3 to 6 inches. I’ve NEVER seen anything like it and can’t wait to see more!
Chelsea in General
I love living here and think it is the greatest neighborhood on the planet. But I have been watching with dismay as the small neighborhood theatres and mom and pop boutiques have been forced out, the cool old brownstones torn down, and the generic high-rise condos have gone up in their place.
Tía Pol
I like to take out-of-town collectors to Tía Pol for ice cold Cava and some gambas and patatas bravas — two typical Catalan tapas that are done really nicely here. It’s always filled with interesting people and a lively atmosphere
Brite
For local friends and long-time clients, I like Brite Food Shop. The food is divine and it’s friendly and neighborhoody, but I don’t think it qualifies as a gallery hot spot.
Claire Oliver gallery is located at 513 West 26th Street (212.929.5949; claireoliver.com)
