Much of Martin Wilner’s work is diaristic in nature, done in a quotidian fashion, with time playing a role as variable as pen and ink, where a work evolves in a steady manner over an extended time period to unpredictable conclusions, where preset conditions collide head-on with randomness,... Read more
Much of Martin Wilner’s work is diaristic in nature, done in a quotidian fashion, with time playing a role as variable as pen and ink, where a work evolves in a steady manner over an extended time period to unpredictable conclusions, where preset conditions collide head-on with randomness, chance and the unknown. This exhibition will feature Wilner’s Journal of Evidence Weekly accordion-style books, Making History calendar drawings, and Game Pieces.
The Journal of Evidence Weekly books are drawn while in motion on the New York City subway system. The volumes themselves have become of late predominantly attempts to translate the acoustic experience of the journey with all of its chaos and cacophony into a visual experience, with representational elements that primarily underscore the sensuous and grotesque elements of the process. (Wilner, 2007) The Making History drawings are based on a calendar format, within which Wilner creates a set of conditions and parameters that allow him to √¢‚Ǩ≈ìplay an elaborate game of Cadavre Exquis against the future.√¢‚Ǩ¬ù The Game Pieces are variously shaped drawings that explore temporal issues. American Rodeo, the second of two drawings done in the shape of a map of the USA, shows a zoo-like variety of animals over the various states, becoming an Orwellian parable for 2007. This is Wilner’s third one-person exhibition at Pierogi.
In Making History: February 2005, a text-based piece, Wilner’s attention, wandering between fragments of headlines, produces an open-ended poetry, both wonderfully ironic and curiously matter-of-fact. This is close to the way we read the newspaper to begin with, our focus flitting between atrocities and distractions, sifting the barrage of type and ‘important’ information for words of consequence to us. (Camhi, 2005)
In Ryan Mrozowski’s paintings strange and mysterious events appear to be in progress. Crowds of a few or many gather around some central activity. In Presentation, a crowd forms beneath the dark edges of a row of dimly lit buildings to bear witness to a violinist, a pianist, a group of choral singers. Two men standing atop a piano, dressed in what could be lab coats, have put down their scores to observe a central suited figure looking over his shoulder at a flock of birds descending toward him. Two cameramen record the events. Toward the outer edge of the group of onlookers, the scene dims ominously. In another painting, Pulled from the River, an astronaut is being pulled from the water by a group of people, while along the riverbank others play brass instruments. This painting suggests ideas about rebirth and failed attempts at discovery.
Many of Mrozowski’s paintings involve what appears to be a stage or a place of performance. Figures either participate in or observe the central activity. Often one or more figures stand atop stilts, a ladder, or an object like a piano. These figures appear to be officiating, judging, or studying the scene before them and suggest man’s futile attempt to be enlightened. These elements can also be stand-ins for the stage from which people orate, judge, or perform.
