On 5 December 2008, the Sego Art Center will open What ought to be, an exhibit of new sculptures by local artist Gian Pierotti. The exhibit will feature an adjoining critical essay by writer and art historian Megan Whittaker.
In the Aristotelian tradition, art functions as an imitator, showing us what is, what ought to be and what might be. Though typically imitation in art is couched in the notion of representation, it is the imaginative process of imitation that is communicated tacitly, even instinctively, through the work in Gian Pierotti's new show at the Sego Art Center. Evolved from their earliest stages as formal variations on a Minimal theme, Pierotti's latest porcelain sculptures encase small polygonal shapes in architectural exoskeletons that may be disassembled and reassembled. The results are a playful advancement of an archaic process. The unique forms are deliberately accidental, artificially organic and defy any one direct referent.
Yet the work is both immediately familiar and immensely satisfying. Fitting together the pieces of one of Pierotti's works is as gratifying as locking together two Legos or snapping Construx into place. The toys of childhood are the tools of imaginative imitation, teaching us how to act as adults. Pierotti's works, fantastic constructed entities that call upon us as viewers to animate them, remind us to embrace childlike wonder in the gallery. In the aftermath of Postmodernism, the trend in art has been toward what ought to be – both formally and contextually. The reward of Pierotti's work at Sego Art Center this month is that it offers up what art might be. And what art might be is fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment