Untitled (white blob), 2005 Vinyl, wood, aluminum and motor1.5 x 2 x 2 meters
CRISP presents the UK solo debut of New York-based artist, CHARLOTTE BECKET.
Exploring the territory between a Sisyphean futility and jubilant optimism, the exhibition uses references to pop psychology and the use of commonplace materials. Kinetic sculptures move slowly – sometimes
imperceptibly – performing gestures born from the banality of the human condition. Their looping, rhythmic motion transforms the sculptures from motorized machines to figural abstractions or landscapes.
The series, Inkblot (2009), includes wall mounted geometric forms with black-mirrored surfaces. The top of each mass has been sheared, producing a shelf-like form that strictly delineates between above and below.
Underneath the plateau, crystalline abstractions accumulate to create an imposing Rorschach image. The rigid symmetrical landscape is punctuated with bulging rifts that slowly swell, either in a moment of expansion or deflation. As the forms slowly shift and redirect light they become hallucinogenic and unstable. They are sometimes landscapes, smoke, ships,heavy metal concert stages or balloons.
Other wall-mounted work include a sculpture entirely composed of black plastic strapping which creates a calligraphic line recalling the abstract paintings of Brice Marden and Cy Twombly. The piece is suspended between two facing walls, with a greater density near the walls and tapering out towards the middle of the room where the sides meet in a tenuous connection. The two sides slowly pull themselves apart and drift back together. This unfurled Gordian knot strains under the task of fusion and separation in an ambivalent tug of war.
Still works take the form of bloated bodies that creak and strain,endlessly moaning and muttering to themselves in an unresolved internal dialogue. These works couple the complexity of human behavior with the
ambivalence of a reduced gesture.
CHARLOTTE BECKET received an MFA from Hunter College, New York in 2006 and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Recent solo exhibitions include Peter Fingesten Gallery, Pace University, New York (2009), Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (2006) and Taxter & Spengemann, New York(2006/2005/2004). Recent group exhibitions include Passerby Gallery, New York (2008), Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2007) and American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York (2007).
CRISP london| 3 Newman Passage, London W1T 1EG los angeles| 1355 Westwood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90024 www.crisplondonlosangeles.com
