Taylor De Cordoba presents:
POP-UP @ THE PARKER
featuring new work by:
Kimberly Brooks, Frohawk Two Feathers, Kyle Field, Charlene Liu & Jeana Sohn.
Saturday March 29
Sunday March 30
Le Parker Meridian
118 W. 57th St.
New York, NY 10019
To schedule a viewing appointment contact Heather Taylor
310.413.7665
heather@taylordecordoba.com
Claire Oswalt: Trustfall
March 15 – April 15, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 15, 6-9pm
Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present Trustfall, a new series of sculptural drawings by Los Angeles-based artist Claire Oswalt. The exhibition will run from March 15 through April 19, 2008. The gallery will host an opening reception for the artist on Saturday March 15th from 6-9pm.
This is the artist’s first solo show with the gallery. With her puppets made from wood, twine, and graphite on paper, Oswalt explores an increasingly complex adult world with a childlike simplicity and curiosity. The push and pull between control and freedom is pervasive throughout her series: from a girl being blown away, to the clothes that have fallen on the floor, to a man falling out of his chair. Her puppets demonstrate a sense of restricted movement, while the title of her series suggests an unrestrained freefall, made possible only with trust. Oswalt ensures that each fall is a fall in the right direction, or to a safe place. And although they are put into a position that lacks control, the puppets put their trust in the artist and subsequently the viewer. In this sense, the puppets welcome us into their world as we explore the trials and tribulations of “falling” in love and falling through life. Though Trustfall is theatrical with its changing backdrops and Pinnochio-esque qualities, its characters instill a quiet sense of realism that prompt the viewer to ponder the simple aesthetic quality which propels these puppets into our world.
Los Angeles Times
Friday February 29, 2008
AROUND THE GALLERIES
by Holly Myers
A chapter from colonial times
“In the Court of the Crimson King” is Frohawk Two Feathers‘ second solo show at Taylor de Cordoba and the second chapter of an epic saga whose details are difficult to keep straight. They’re scrawled on a long, scroll-like sheet posted to a gallery wall for those who want to give it a try. But the themes are all too familiar: power, war, colonialism, imperialism and the lure of global trade.
The hero is one Nancy of Gonaives, heir to the fictional kingdom of Frengland, who has embarked on a mission to avenge his father’s death and reclaim the throne from his villainous uncle, Lord William (a.k.a. King Billy). Haiti figures in the story in some way, as do the sugar trade, the Inuit people, a pope and a certain pink sperm whale, hunted with Ahab-like obsession by the ill-fated King L’Oreal.
The bulk of the story is told through drawings and paintings that mimic the conventions of colonial-era genres — particularly portraiture — while remaining wonderfully fresh and strange. The project is a peculiar one that manages to balance a number of unlikely qualities — lighthearted and earnest, endearing and unsettling, humorous and scathingly critical.
Two Feathers, who goes by a number of different pseudonyms, seems to have a lot going on: He has several musical projects underway and will perform at the gallery Saturday as Kent Cyclone. The full scope may take some time to unfold, but the promise is striking.
