Saw an amazing exhibit at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. It was an installation by Mark Dion entitled "Curiosity Shop." Essentially, Dion built an entire shed-like structure inside a gallery, and then filled it with antiques and knickknacks. Besides being a visual feast in the general sense, it was compelling on two levels: 1. The shop was entirely locked shut, so the only means of viewing the materials inside was to peer through windows. 2. The objects were organized by various categories, such as "Time" which showed a shelf filled with clocks, "Heaven" which had toys of gods, monsters, and ghosts, and "Sea" which was filled with various sea creatures and nautical items. The entire viewing experience was a delight, as the viewer is at once a voyeur and a decoder of a foreign, symbolic language. This was a particularly gratifying piece for me, as I'm obsessed with Cabinets of Curiosities. In another room, there were Dion's sketches, which betrayed his balance of scientific meticulousness and incendiary imagination. A highlight for me was a series of lithographs done by Dion and Robert Williams, which showed elaborate diagrams of names of monsters, alchemists, and mythical places, distilling magic into taxonomy. I wish I could find pictures of these, and will post them of.when I do...
He is the most amazing artist and totally inspired me during my degree, when I was also working along similar themes..I love the way he manages to bring museums and art together. He has a room at Manchester Museum of Natural History at the mo ( in the UK) and I thought it was a room the museum had decorated in the style of Charles Darwins study, for the Darwin exb. but then I realised it was a Mark Dion installation and was sooo excited to see it!!
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=794910351 | January 17, 2010 at 04:19 PM