chris albert: January 2014

Saturday, January 11, 2014

January 11

2011, pastel, oil on masonite, 12"x12"

2012 tattoo executed by JD Dreyer @ Phantom8 in Denver, CO.

2012 oil on plastic plate, 12" dia.

2012 tattoo executed by JD Dreyer @ Phantom8 in Denver, CO.

The ball drops on CROTCH: Matt Stolle

January's offering at CROTCH dropped into the tree this past week. Manhattan based artist Matt Stolle came up to Beacon last weekend to deliver his work for CROTCH.

Black Ball (Concretion) plaster, enamel, gesso, 5"x5"x5", 2013

Matt's project Black Ball incorporates one of his Concretion sculpture within the corpus of the CROTCH tree. When deposited in its resting place, this dense, shiny, irregular "cannon ball" of plaster, gesso and enamel became a lustrous black pearl seated in a nest of snow, tightly fitted right in the crux of Crotch.

The rain washed away the snow that same night. The next morning, the contrast of textures between this ball and bark of the tree became more apparent.

Black Ball is a point of gravity, nailing that moment of splitting and joining. By its presence in the tree, Black Ball provides the possibility that it was this very projectile which created the cleavage of CROTCH when falling from the sky, lodging itself at its current place of rest.

There's much life within the sphere of a tree which can only be seen on close, patient examination. Matt's piece, discrete as it is, highlights this nature.

Because, by nature, the possibility is always there, once spied by those more (c)literal minded individuals, this tiny black button might add an anatomical correctness to the physiology of CROTCH.

Nature laid bare, and discrete, all at once.

The ball was dusted with a new coating of snow yesterday morning. This new layer of white stuff turns the positive into a negative. It's Black Ball cum black hole. Even up close, It's hard not to see the sphere as a void.

Another of Matt's Concretion works is currently on view through Feb 2 at et al projects in Brooklyn as part of the group exhibit Visceral Integrity, curated by Bret Slater.