Carla Goldberg on the kork board through the end of February

Play, 2010 ink on paper, lights

Carla Goldberg's Play has been providing a sort of light therapy to the office of Bailey Browne & Assoc. while encouraging members of the staff not to work too hard.  Goldberg's work which has been installed at kork since the beginning of the year remains on view through the end of this month.
Here's the text of the press release:

The dead of winter, can strain the patience and cheer of even the most jovial of individuals and, at about this time of year, extreme bouts of cabin fever start to be distracting.  Weather such as we've experienced this season in NY can aggravate the general imbalance of life and work that Carla Goldberg’s kork artwork speaks to.  Play, 2010 is an emphatic exhortation to the staff of Bailey Browne CPA & Assoc. to not to work too hard - in their own words.  The artist collected writing samples from every staff member.  The phrase “All work and no play makes _____ a dull boy (or girl)” was penned by each staff member in his or her own hand, filling in his or her own name in the phrase.  The written samples were then copied multiple times by the artist and layered densely to form one incessant mantra backlit by blinking white Christmas lights which serve to make the singular message even more assertive.
Are these the words the waning echo of a New Year’s resolution gone dormant - one our inner voice quite let go of yet?  Is the blinking light a cheery alleviation of the season’s shortened daylight, or an unstopping, pulsating drone that recalls the excess of the holiday season recently passed?  
Our society’s most popular self help gurus teach that one must manifest the reality one desires, and a first step along that manifestation is often writing messages of affirmation and encouragement to oneself - repeatedly so.  And it is through that repetition of the message (the shining example of Jack Nicholson aside) that the desired new reality can take hold.  By most accounts, this may be true of the art work’s message to staff to not work so hard as to exclude a little fun (even in the midst of tax season,) with perhaps the exception of Robert, whose office looks directly onto the flashing kork board and who has reported on the slightly unsettling effect of those flashing lights.
We can only hope Spring arrives real soon.

Up next on kork:  James Westwater for March and April.