Artist interview: Tsz Yan Ng's "Factory Setting: the space of labor"

"Factory Setting: the space of labor" An installation by Tsz Yan Ng at 2739 Edwin (Curated by Steve Panton)

http://2739edwin.com/pastevents.html

1. In the project description of your project, it is described in part as a "case study", what did this mean?

Tsz Yan Ng: It is a case study in that it stems out of both my own direct experience of designing a factory/headquarter building in China for the fashion label Lafayette 148 New York and subsequent research in textile manufacturing in the contemporary global context. The photographs are from documentation of the building and the activities within, highlight the labor of handcrafting and the value of these skills that’s fast disappearing in mass production. This company is exemplary in how they take care of their work force by providing them with a great space to work in along with medical care and education to some of the workers’ children. It is not always the case for textile manufacturing companies to provide social benefits so I wanted to distinguish what is shown in the weaving as a particular case that I have access to rather than a comprehensive survey of the subject matter. The weaving is more a project that opens up the conversation about the value of labor in the 21st century rather than focusing on extreme living and working condition polarized in the media. I was interested more in a nuanced look at the lives of these workers. Hence, I included a set of black and white photographs of factory workers in the 60s, not only to suggest the trajectory of textile manufacturing from a different historical period, albeit at a smaller scale, but also that there’s a strong social bond between the workers, talking and laughing, becoming lifetime friends through shared experiences. Nowhere in the exhibit did I mention that one of the seamstress in the black and white photographs is in fact my mother mainly because I wanted to keep the conversation as a general discourse rather than a personal narrative that others may not have access to. But in a way, the photographs discuss the other side of labor, one that is not necessarily defined by economics but more about human relations. This aspect is not visible on the surface when we talk about textile manufacturing so the aim is to highlight aspects of labor that is not always apparent.

 

2. There were two shows in a sense, can you speak to the importance of this?

Tsz Yan Ng: That’s actually interesting that it seems like a two part show. It’s true that the performance aspect of weaving, as in actually weaving in the gallery during the course of the month, is one part and the finished textile exhibited at the closing reception is another. I actually saw it as a continuum. The size of the weaving was intentional to point to the labor and time it took to make it. It’s so large that it’s palpable to understand the object in question as intrinsically tide to human labor. So even though at the closing reception, I wasn’t weaving, one can imagine that there’s an entire production involved before calling it finished. It’s not that different than analogously understanding that the clothing we have on right now, as a manufactured product, embodied a tremendous among of human labor before we purchase them in the stores. That whole side of manufacturing is invisible to us. So part of weaving at the gallery was to expose this other side. What was fascinating was that at the closing reception, Joel Silvers showed footages he took of me during the weaving process. The focus on the hand movement, the sound, the strips of lines crossing were mesmerizing for some. What was clear was that the people who only saw the finished weaving, without seeing the process, wanted to know how it was done. Only after seeing the video did they understand the scope of the work. So it was pretty interesting that it may seem like there’s two lives to the exhibition, but in fact they were really expressions of different stages that make the visitors wonder about the other aspects that are not immediately present. This was quite satisfying for me in that the object, while necessary to bracket the subject matter, was just a vehicle to discuss what it means to make and produce things. The response from people who saw the weaving process that came to the closing reception was less focused in the finished object but more astounded by the amount of effort it took to make it. So it came back to labor and that is where I wanted the discussion to reside. There is of course an aesthetic to the weaving - the colors, and texture, the different scales one is supposed to see it, from a distance and up close in detail. But this crafting is very much a part of labor as well.




3. How did you use the concept of an exhibition as architecture?

Tsz Yan Ng: As far as treating this as an installation, the sense of inhabitation was important. It wasn’t justmaking the gallery the site of production that was the spatial transposition but also the precision of designing the set up itself. I actually deployed an illusion technique called faux terrain (literally means false ground) that was used in 19th century panorama construction. It essentially is a 3D staging in the foreground of the canvas that is matched perfectly with the 2D image behind. This gives the illusion that the physical space is part of the perspectival extension of the 2D image. The view used for the weaving, the interior of the factory floor, was chosen specifically so that the custom loom and the working surface in the gallery would blend together when the viewer stands in front of it. The series of continuous horizontal cutting tables in the factory within the image is in perspectival alignment with what is in the gallery. So when people are checking out the loom and the working surface, standing in front of the weaving, they unknowing are co-opted into the perspective. There are two workers in the image, facing the same direction but deeper in space. This positions the gallery visitor to be in the foreground of that perspective, allowing others to see their inhabitation within the space of the factory. The installation as an inhabitable space relies on participants and the set up is intended to underscore the presence of people. But it is also important that it’s not about one looking at oneself, rather, is about seeing people OTHER than oneself. This type of spatial transposition or illusion has a long history within architectural design such as theater stage sets and natural history dioramas. While the subject/object relation is maintained for these precedents, I was trying to insert for the exhibition different criteria for viewing and contemplation – same technique but under very different circumstances. Beside the exhibition itself. I think perceptions of architecture as a professional design field is really skewed in terms of the emphasis on the final building. The actual ‘design’ of any built artifact is but a small fraction of the amount of work and effort in design development, management, and coordination. Even for this project, what was necessary in terms of production before anything is fabricated consisted of an entire month of material testing, prototyping, and calibration. This is labor too and it’s also invisible. The invisible intelligence of any ‘design’ work, whatever scale it may be, is a form of architectural thinking and production. Even conceptualizing the order in which things has to happen is itself a form of complex navigation. So while there may not be a physical object of interiority and exteriority that constitute ‘architecture,’ though I would probably argue for a conceptual and experiential one, I actually think the entire process of this installation, from ideation to its final outcome, is in keeping with architecture as a practice.



4. What was it like to work with Steve Panton?

Tsz Yan Ng: Steve is a careful critic and curator. He actually was the one who suggested for me to use the gallery to produce the work as a performance instead of hiding out in some other space to make the work where that labor would be rendered invisible. I think he saw the significance in relation to this issue of labor value that is critical to the project. That is for the public to engage the process itself and to reflect upon their own mode of production in life and in work to ask where value lies in one’s own form of labor. The gallery being in Hamtramck is great given the diversity and historically as home to industrial manufacturing workers. Steve by design was literally establishing a public forum by opening up a space for people to engage and reflect. It wasn’t just people coming in and absorbing the work. People stayed for long periods and some even came back multiple times throughout the month to track the weaving development. Conversations with Steve about the work made it that much more richer and as a true curator. He brought out the best in the work.

How will the project expand from here?

Tsz Yan Ng: Well, this project actually marks the second in a series. The first one is a 4 ft X 6 ft weaving of satellite views of highway interchanges called Shuttling the Grid. One set of spaghetti is from LA  century panorama construction. It essentially is a 3D and the other from Shanghai. The former, exemplary of urban formation based on car culture of  century, and the latter, of the continued valorization of car ownership in the 21stthe 20thThe context to which this was produced was a group exhibition called Un-Privileged Views, in WUHO Gallery in Los Angeles in 2012. It was highlighting images of the city outside of that iconic postcard image. The weaving technique developed from this project was intended to resist the focus on any singular image but to focus on a blended third image produced by the weaving. The simultaneity was an extremely interesting visual effect. But I wanted to explore this technique further, especially in scale, since there are very specific material concerns in terms of production. I usually like to develop each installation project based on context and venue. For the last eight years, I’ve been looking at different aspects of global textile manufacturing and industrialization/urbanization in China. I’d imagine that there will be other studies, just depends on what space I’m working with and if there’s a larger thematic question.



Interviewer/photographer - Cedric Tai

My art review: Clara DeGalan's Joint Thesis Exhibition

"Freedom Varnish I" by Clara DeGalan which reminds me a bit of Mark Tansey's monochrome work.

Wayne State University will soon graduate Clara DeGalan and her work with two other soon-to-be graduates are in the Community Arts Art Department Gallery.

(I first met her when we both were trying to write more for things like thedetroiter.com, I also remember a nice piece of hers that I juried into a show at the Scarab Club before I realized that it was her work, so it was good to see how her work has been going since that time over 2 years ago.)

In her thesis exhibition we are confronted with impossible spaces, tricky angles, atmospheric perspective and mirrors, but mostly, we're confronted with a much appreciated playful looseness. The work showcases her ability to manifest content while simultaneously exploring raw mark-making and pushing her source material to be as challenging a composition as possible while still representational.

Her work is not overtly charged either politically, sexually or pop culturey (not a word...), but there are provocative works. In one piece you may be spending a minute or more to unravel the point of view but in another you feel as if you don't want to get caught staring too long at the subject. One image is a drawing of herself without a shirt on with what appears to be a bag on her head, the one next to it, a mother figure appears to be kissing a young woman emerging from a pool. The viewer starts goes from analyzing formal elements to winding up in an appropriately psychological head-space, this is a nuanced form of tension.

I immediately made two associations with her work, surprisingly both male, her trees reminded me of Mondrian's whereas the work with the kissing women titled "June 1982" seems to appropriate the stylized realism of artists such as Jack Vetriano to a much more satisfying use of elusive backgrounds and bold colors.

"Gray Tree" by Mondrian 1912

Large charcoal drawing by Clara DeGalan

Many of the marks in Clara DeGalan's large charcoal works are erasures. In every figurative work, the face is obscured. The locking eyes that are such a big part of self-portraiture is defied, Lacan's description of the "gaze" would seem to come into the equation, but I wouldn't say that the assumed viewer is male. The perspective of the viewer seems to meld into a feeling of introspection. The obscuring of reality and fragmentation through framing destabilizes a comfortable perspective even while one thinks about looking back at oneself in a mirror.

I then tried to think about how other young women artists or painters address self-portraiture in ways that are meant to give an insight into their psyche and I realized that as much as they tend to be unflattering, they tend to also be pretty funny and exhibit universal feelings of ennui.

There are Dana Schutz's self-portraits paintings and I think it's worth mentioning even Allie Brosh's version of herself in Hyperbole and a Half.

"Google" by Dana Schutz

Excerpt from "Depression Part 2" by Allie Brosh

They all share a necessary self-consciousness that puts us into their mindset, that it represents how they feel about how they look. I would argue it is a productive way to address being in no condition of being "presentable" so that we begin to examine the humanity of the artists.




I see this show as DeGalan not showing a culmination of everything she has ever done, nor is it the future of her practice as more likely we're merely taking a dip into a larger flowing body of work. Consider how she is a formidable force of self-improvement as she has been teaching at another school even while doing her graduate work, writing local reviews when she can find the time, but also doing the important work of contextualizing her own practice. I think that she is one of those artists who should bank on their confidence to use the years after grad school to actually keep exploring and changing rather than to nail a style and then start passing out business cards. Who knows what experiences will engage her work in one year, two years, or five, because it doesn't matter! She makes work look effortless, while at the same time her work demands that you to put in some effort to stop and examine what she's putting out there, it's a rewarding experience to piece together how she constructs her works, and I was happy to hear that she's also sticking around Detroit.

My book review: Talk To Me, Design and the Communication between People and Objects

I wrote this back in May, but it didn't seem relevant until I realized that I have to brush up on my knowledge of design for a 2D Design class I'll be teaching in January at EMU. This is going to be my last review of 2013 on the catalog/book for the exhibition "Talk to Me: Communication Between People and Objects" which was actually published back in 2011.

What stands for great design today doesn't usually translate into what interests me most at the moment: conceptual works that reflect on life.

A digital projection makes it easier to read the news, to say hello, to evoke your emotions, to play games, makes it easier to pray, to spray graffiti, to make cute hybrid animals, (and by easier I mean kind of expensive) so what? Somehow a device that is a metaphor for transferring useful information (it's meaningfulness is questionable) is meant to be lauded as progress. I see it as invention-porn, the excitement of being able to sell a million units to some people somewhere.

I think there's a problem here because all of the examples in the book assume that they represent a kind of consensus on problems and their solutions, but really it's use and audience is quite a narrow point of view. Not only that, but all of the ideas are in some way are about being so unique that it's patent is really really important. The distribution of the ideas that it contains is such that although it could inspire lots of useful applications, 99% of the time that will never happen because you'll have to pay someone for that idea that most likely came from somewhere else but was packaged better by them. If it's free that means that most likely it will ask to brand you, but most likely will do something along the lines of tracking your purchases to sell to companies. 

I'm hope that I don't come off as being anti-design or technology, I am interested in the collective aspects of both design and technology. I'm interested in objects that help us pause for reflection and honestly, I would probably like every product in this book if it somehow was made by someone anonymously and it gave names to people and companies that are willing to produce products similar to it. I like different design products, but I'm very practical in a radical way. I like computers that allow me to steal software and do my work and doesn't become obsolete after 3 years. I like that my iPhone allowed me to take video, track its whereabouts when I lost it and transfers my contacts to the next phone. In effect that means it allowed me to make art, make up for my regular difficulties in life but also to allow a semblance of its use (as an address book) to be able to be transferred easily. This is not how I define good design/technology, but what I do with this object is treat it as a different kind of tool, one which I don't mind if it tracked my every move since it could find its way back to me if I lost it, that seems like a fair trade (an iPhone is very expensive). If I don't want to be tracked, I just won't bring my phone with me, problem solved.

Perhaps what I'm trying to say is that we've got bigger problems. At this moment (I was applying to be a volunteer for GalGael in Glasgow) I have to prove that I should be able to volunteer for an organisation that I believe provides me with more meaning than any job I can apply for and yet I still have to be just as professional sans pay. Perhaps it is more important for people to take calculated risks bringing me on, than it is important for people like me to be able to take calculated risks. 

Or perhaps what most people dislike about 'design' is how it is advertised for maximum consumption, but should we be so offended by marketing? I might agree that it's appropriate to be angry at the ways that one can turn a phrase so that a 'want' appears to be a 'need' or fein that a physical product offers nothing short of 'happiness' with a dash of the 'american dream', but shouldn't we be spending our time thinking about how it's equally plausible to leverage something against itself, perhaps judo-like (trust-o-corp)? Or knowing the enemy better and through education/parenting do something that is equally powerful rendering oneself and others to be immune? And perhaps if there really was an issue with an advertisement (such as that it for example provokes subtle xenophobia) then we should instate our rights to make a response to be held up to the same volume level so that a conversation about values can take place, and a moment of reflection can occur.

Where I will end this 'review' is on the works that I did like and although I can't put my finger on what separates them from the rest, I do think it has something to do with when the design seems to crossover  into contemporary art that has greater implications, but I'll try to sum up something...

Cross-fire from the Natural Occurrence series (Geoggrey Mann) 2010

Why: It uses a culturally American angry conversation from a cult-film to affect the shapes of a traditional place setting that you have to see to believe.

TV Predator (Eva Rucki, Conny Freyer, and Sebastian Noel) 2003-7

Why: It anthropomorphises a picture frame that jealously messes with your other electronics.

Square (Jack Dorsey) 2010

Why: This is a small, simple tool that goes a long way to promoting individuals to develop their own business, I actually sold a work of art using this system.

Level (Hans Hemmert) 1997

Why: This work seems more like a work of art than a work of design as I'm sure these products exist already, so it must be more about the experience within the exhibition.

Artificial Biological Clock (Revital Cohen) 2008

Why: It takes in account how technology has already changed our lives (towards artificiality) and uses it to function artificially better. There's a real interest in poetry in this person's work.

Pig 05049 (Christien Meindertsma and Julie Joliat) 2006

Why: This book concept is so good I wish that they could do this for every animal that people consume.

Hyperreal Everyday Life (Michiko Nitta) 2006

Why: Probably the easiest thing that people could recreate themselves and it almost seems like it doesn't belong in the book, but it's perhaps because it's so lo-fi.

PostSecret (Frank Warren) 2004

Why: It seems almost strange that it took until 2004 for a project like this to be so popular that he has received half a million secrets, we should call this year the year of hope, because we all know how that turned out.

Helix (Frank Lantz, Kevin Slavin, Kevin Cancienne, Kati London, Mark Heggen, Demetri Detsaridis, Jesen Fagerness, Mike Essl) 2011

Why: The game is the application of survival of the fittest taken through its extreme of the cards one is dealt in life (our genes) This game would not nearly be as fun if it included socioeconomics.

City Tickets (Mayo Nissen) 2010

Why: Taking the well understood of tracking packages to tracking crimes, it's a nice idea to promote civic participation, I'm also trying to fend off as much cynicism that I could have with this.

Berlin, City Smell Research (Sissel Tolaas) 2004

Why: This is probably an art exhibition that everyone thinks they thought of it, but was never able to pull it off 

Walk the Solar System (Louise O'Connor) 2010

Why: It reminds me of the amazing creativity that teachers can display with having no resources but given the task to explain not only the world, but the universe.

The Sun, 75cm Yoga Ball, Afroworld

Bat Billboard (Chris Woebken and Natalie Jeremijenko) 2008

Why: Imagine if this concept was used also for whales, did they ever end up proving causation between sonar and beaching? 

Bzzzspeek (Agathe Jacquillat and Tomi Vollauschek) 2002

Why: Now that is effin' cute.

Check Mate (Johan Liden and Olivier Gregoire) 2009

Why: It turns a game of war into pleasure

This book clarifies for me some things about the potential of design, and yet of all of these projects, no one has poetically considered augmented reality or used it in any meaningful way whatsoever. It is neither so basic that my imagination fills in the rest of the information, nor so advanced that I feel like it will change how we see the world. Also, this catalog is presented as a book with a few QR catalogs, really? I mean… really? Talk about missed opportunity.

My art review: Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller: Situations/S(h)ituations

"The Mascots" Wood, paint, safety cone, "old pink potty chair" and behind that "Entrance" and "Structure No. 2"

The contemporary art world is becoming infiltrated with talented musicians showing off how much more cool they are than visual artists. (Ever think about how funny it is how some colleges try to claim their bastard spawn ex-students once they drop out and form a successful band? This blog is not about that.) I'm talking though about a trend of musicians utilizing the gallery space as a kind of prop to support an album release, like the Ssion and Jay-Z. And for some reason I've been thinking a lot about the confusingly successful melding of new and old with Bob Dylan's newest music video. That music video also gets at the point of where the concept of making good music and good art dissolves, whatever it is, it should entice multiple readings, multiple plays to appreciate how profound it is in its expansiveness.

Seeing Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller's show twice is a good idea.

Nicola Kuperus presents Adam Lee Miller for the cleanest show one might find concerning feces. As a follow up to the process based John Cage show at the Center Galleries, S(h)ituations is highly controlled, sometimes neurotic, but tightly executed. Their reputations precede them as these two have worked hard making a name for themselves as the addictively abrasive musical cult ADULT. Nicola in particular is well recognized for her stylistic photography which grew well into collaborative slasher video works. My favorite piece of the show comes out of her newest development into creating self-referential pieces, one in particular where she becomes a very large terse red bow, perfect for the holiday season.

"Angry Bow" (ed. 1 of 5) 

I am deeply intimidated by them when I see them as Musicians. They recently won a Knight Foundation matching grant to bring in guest musicians from around the world into their home as they cram 75 or so days, possibly in a row, to whip out a new album. They are quite the masochists. 

Closeup of "Billboard"

I believe I was talking to the Scottish visual artist Tessa Lynch in regards to her partner Owen who is a drummer, about the jealously that bubbles up when I think about how much fun he looks like he's having while playing drums. (Broad generalizations here about musicians) There also seems to be less assumptions that anything truly "new" is supposed to be created, it is easy enough to jam with a group of people on a whim even if proper instruments aren't handy, and it would not be unusual for ones career to consider going abroad from city to city to showcase their talents. The best part however, is that for most artists that dabble in music and vice versa, you generally find people that are willing to not take themselves too seriously.

"Pulling Wool" (ed. 1 of 3) Looping Video

Looking solely at their visual work I get the feeling that as accomplished as they are in their careers it would seem that they are trying to get their bearings again as visual artists. Besides the one-point perspective in all of the paintings all the pieces are centered. The work is focused and concise, all the subjects are contained. If a piece seems to be edging too close to being a one-liner it may be because it is evident that some of the works are made as efficiently as possible and partially dictated by Home Depot's stock of construction materials. One of them mentioned that sometimes doing art helped them to get out from becoming too burnt out as musicians, I think Jimmy Edgar would suggest that they try some meditation. The only piece that did not have a singular vantage point of sorts was "Vista Point", a fabricated urinal with steps on the side that were not actually meant to be walked upon. It provided them with the joy of watching people climb their sculpture, hear the viewers' disappointment, and come back down to be called out as a Pervert by the artists. There is the sense that they've always wanted to call everybody else out for being weird, and this is something I wish they could have explored even more through their exhibition because the element of alienation works so well in their music, why would they stop there?

They also talked of being more conscious to make the time to see museum shows while they're out touring as a band. I wonder if Nicola has seen Erwin Wurm's one minute sculptures even though some of her photos reminded me more of Abu Ghraib yoga, or if Adam knew that the city of Glasgow has given up on taking down a cone from the Duke of Wellington's head in Glasgow as subversive acts by the public. I wanted to tell them that after seeing an image of work done at the Mattress Factory they'd really love the work of Scottish artist Anthony Schrag. 

"Table Top (Maine)" (ed. 1 of 3)

As they said in their artist talk they are attempting to find out if this absurd experiment is going to work. They are a married couple trying to marry together all of their interests. Some tensions that were thrown around included:

The Serious vs. Ridiculous

The Individual vs. Collective

Serendipity vs. Branding

Setting something up to be a reversal vs. balance

dehumanizing elements vs. something personal 

working harder vs. anxiety of not working hard enough (but curiously no mention of working less hard)

Barriers vs. Corrals

producing a twist like a magic trick vs. multiple readings

"Vapor Corrals" Acrylic on canvas over panel (triptych) and "Table Top (Maine)" (ed. 1 of 3)

The best work appeared to be neither a reference to their dark aesthetic nor visual supplements to their records, but some of the simple pleasures of being foul. I did actually feel vulnerable staring down into a urinal when I realized that if someone else took a photo of me and cropped out the steps, I simply can't think of a believable explanation. Also again the swearing bow tickled me pink, and the way it shook, it could have been lampooning a cute Pixar character or any number of invented digital characters selling us car insurance.

There is something overly cautious about many of the works needing to be well crafted, or at least fabricated by them, when the previous John Cage show critiqued the space as a neutral white cube. If the paintings were so interested in commenting on the path of the viewer within a piece, wouldn't the next logical step be to actually mess with the viewers and go beyond setting everything up to be a stage for them to enact ridiculous scenarios to be seen by onlookers? The vantage point one sees when immediately entering the gallery seems to the dominating vantage point for the whole time you are in the show. Also, why do they get to have all the fun?

"Suggestive Floor Plan" Acrylic on canvas over panel next to "Vista Point" Wood, fake tile, paint, commercial restroom stall, toilet, toilet paper

Or what if they decided to go off the deep and just go straight dark and make some truly absurdly helpless works of art in lieu of the Bankruptcy? The city has officially been ok'ed to tactfully axe thousands of pensions, to consider selling off works from the DIA (if it can be combined with larger cuts since it's still not enough money) and do whatever it takes to square the city with the banks and creditors. All of this is paving the way for every other American city to follow suit. Someone I can't mention (since I haven't asked them if I can post this information) has said that their pension has been cut in their city by 80%. I didn't want to press the artists more on the issue, but I asked them about advice they would give to all the other artists in Detroit (since Adam also mentioned in their artist talk that one of his paintings was in part of the tiresome masculine painting) and they mentioned a conversation that hangs in the air that artists here sometimes complain about the unromantic side of being an artist: the grant-writing, the failed proposals, dealing with our own personal impatience, but also about accepting having to work really really hard. I think that "hard work" needs to be parsed here. Creative Capital is on point when they say that one needs to work smarter not harder and I would like to see everyone in Detroit more committed to professional development that considers the fluid global art scene. I don't mean that professional development in the stereotypical sense of building a solid "career", but finding a way to do justice to the vision embodied in your practice (or your personal life) and being committed to continually take risks.

This might just be me, but I felt like I saw Nicola seemingly berating herself for being on the internet for too long and having an inner voice telling her to work harder, which is kind of how I see myself, right now, fresh out of graduate school beating myself up in the same way. Nicola mentioned that they already have their own shit to do deal with, so taking a stab about thinking about the greater art context is a bit too much, but I would argue that it's precisely the kind of work that is necessary and it involves exploring a kind of vulnerability that I don't think that they venture into in their musician personae (they only exude badass), as ADULT, but it's the kind of visual work that she's leaning towards. It's beautiful and important and personal and it doesn't come from putting more hours in at the office...

I also read somewhere that if you're wasting time and having fun, then you're not exactly wasting time. 

"Dead End (with Ceiling Fan)" Acrylic on canvas over panel

My art review: Gilda Snowden - Album: A Retrospective 1977-2010

I came to see Gilda's Snowden's retrospective primarily because I felt like I owed her something. This is not to say that I wouldn't have come to see all of her fabulous work all in one place, nor would she herself would ever suggest that anyone "owes" anyone, but sometimes what appears as hyperbole is actually justified. She is one of the most important people in Detroit.

This is my personal list of the most positive cheerLeaders in Detroit, all of them are artists:

Mary Fortuna

Chido Johnson

Andrew Thompson

Gilda Snowden

Jack Summers

And to imagine Detroit without any one of them would feel like such a great loss, this city is lucky to have all of them, really.

I am so thankful (we are coming up on Thanksgiving after all) to know that both Chido Johnson and Gilda Snowden rooted for me to be hired at CCS which ended up being one of the most surprising and fun work experiences ever.

The reason I bring all of this up beforehand, is because I feel like there is a funny thing that happens when any of these people support you and your work. You're supposed to feel like they're your peers and yet through their overflowing enthusiasm you become only more aware of the energy that they have that makes them so good at what they do. 

Thankfully Gilda's show brings her down from the pedestal I put her up on as she reveals her values throughout this show. She comes off not as "Gilda the educator" but as the ever curious lifelong learner. The broader message is that a diverse body of work comes not from pushing oneself to produce, but that one becomes productive the more one becomes curious about ones own life and ones surroundings; and you can do this as long as you would like.

Gilda Snowden's retrospective is one of the most hopeful gestures of what it means to live in Detroit. The exhibitions does not make one nostalgic as much as it tells a story of how one person makes priorities in their life so that they can hold onto visceral moments as best as they can.

Nostalgia generally is about being unhappy in the moment because of remembering things as being better in the past. The photography embedded in Gilda's work then counters this sensation of time. Black and white photographs of friends and relatives appear sharp and present, while recent photographs from the internet still have a trace of jpeg artifacts and then are overlaid with a gauzy treatment obscuring the color photographs of her and her daughter. 

It is unfortunate that I didn't bring my 50mm to show you the detail of these images cut out from a contact sheet, it's like a precursor to Gilda's full on commitment to Facebook updates.

The technological advance of sharing images and printing them is filtered by encaustic in order for it to have the possibility of the photos being treated as "real" memory as opposed to a "doctored" digital photograph. In the era of Instagram where colors mimic the feeling of old-fashioned cameras, I imagine that there are those who believe that content can be achieved through which filter you choose over what you aim your camera towards.

Her painted constructions also reference transforming thinking with your hands into something solid, like as if a hug could turn two people into a single child. The rope on its own would not be enough as an object, nor the separate pieces of wood, but they are joined together and marked up in non-smothering treatments of warm earth-toned wax. She doesn't claim that the colors are a conscious decision as much as an economic limitation, which I find hard to believe, because it just would not seem like "limits" would be in this woman's vocabulary. The earthy colors of her constructions are very appropriate as if the work she produces suggests that art is as natural as a tree grows, colors and stencils of dates are the bark.

I took all of these photos on my GoPro so my apologies if you are averse to fish-eye lenses.

// /// //

If you read the catalog, you find out that:

1. Gilda hates driving and therefore has walked everywhere.
2. She names artists (who unfortunately I don't know who they all are), but she expresses the importance of knowing ones context.
3. She explores personal histories and presents that not really knowing her relatives (because she's never met them) is as valid a reason for bringing them into the artwork as if she did know them.
4. She whips out her CCS educator badge in order to keep the police from keeping her from taking rubbings from manhole covers for her series "City Album".

I don't know if she'd agree with me with everything, but I took the liberty of matching up those sentiments so that you can see how contrary they are to common perceptions of living in the city. Many would say:

1. If you don't have a car you are screwed
   (Gilda might say: be tough* or get a chauffeur)
2. Detroit is like a cultural island
   (Gilda might say: you're never truly alone in your practice)
3. We need to talk about racial issues
   (Gilda might say: We need to be ok with looking inward too and the possibility of not knowing)
4. Fuck tha police
   (Gilda might say: Everyone likes to learn including the police AND The best teacher is a student.)

* [In the interview with Dick Goody she is asked about a younger version of herself that acted tough in order to not have anyone mess with her as she took the risk of taking long walks through dangerous parts of the city.  She would give advice to that younger version of herself to be tough on the inside.]

I think these might be my favorite pieces of hers and they're not listed on her website currently! They are titled "City Album" and they remind me of Jasper Johns, but now they'll always remind me of Gilda being stopped by the cops.

// /// // 

The catalog is also interesting because it shows how firmly she is from an older generation of artists, abstract expressionists. Her work fits well in a traditional white-cube setting, it can go anywhere, which is something I would like to challenge her on. 

If you look through the catalog you will find a sculptural painting called "Inverness" that is for her Scottish husband, Boswell. In the digital representation of the work it is cut out of context and missing my favorite element of the piece which helps give its definition: it's shadow. 

"Inverness" is pictured on the wall next to the reception desk, I find the reference to Scotland as being really interesting considering that many of their archives in that country are mostly used by people trying to trace their family history and genealogy.

I'm harping on this because in "Still Life with Film Canisters" she focuses on making the shadow as present as the object itself. Like the missing shadow in the catalog, I believe that even more context could make her work even richer, context that may be accidentally edited out.

Contrast of all sorts as well is really wonderful in this show, which makes her exhibitions of a single body of work look like selling wholesale flowers out of plastic containers rather than the wild forest that is her studio.

Consider this scenario: The DIA puts up reproductions of artwork up around metro Detroit. Can you imagine if they purchased one of her "Bright Stars at Night" paintings and then put one up nearby where the East Side Riders put their bikes? There is energy to her chairs and those Bright Star paintings that make her tornadoes look docile. Perhaps this is not accidental either, could this express that the desire for power (what her chairs may represent) is a force that needs to be recognized and reckoned with that is far more dangerous than the inherent chaos of nature?

Imaginary Landscape is also depicted on ArtHopper.org, but I swear the image they have is too yellow, this piece ZINGS. Also I really love the couple of sentences that accompany her work, it's as if she's right there next to you while you look at the work.

This is the wording that she had next to the "Bright Stars at Night" piece: "A visual cacophony between the artificial illumination (neon, klieg lights) and the natural lights (moon and stars) in my downtown neighborhood: natural light cannot compete with man-made."

There are some people in metro Detroit that might be old enough to remember seeing the Milky Way without having to go to the Night Sky Park in Mackinaw City and there is value in questioning the technological prowess of all human endeavors. One very American aspect that comes through in her work and some of her words is that of American optimism: with positive thoughts, all is well. I would like to see Gilda also create darker themed works that continue to utilize her great sense of intuition and playfulness, because I feel that there is more criticality that she could have to offer. It seems that she pulls back from being too definitive about the fight between natural light and artificial illumination (There's a quote somewhere in the catalog that states that she considers both kinds of light are wonderful, or at least it has a different tone than the sentence next to her piece). But I would argue that it is important that one takes a stance on this issue and many others, even if it's just on the inside, because cheerleading is only as strong as solidarity, activism and resistance.

- Cedric Tai

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I would also like to put it out there that I am going to start putting together some small informal meetings of artists/writers based around the question "What makes good writing about art" as a way to meet other local artists/writers, communally share resources, and have some alternative formats to doing research and development. If you are interested, feel free to e-mail me.