Currently on view

Paper View(s)
Project Space, Plant Zero
0 E. 4th St, Richmond

Top: Don Crow "Untitled" 2006
mounted collage 22" x 30"

Middle: Amie Oliver "Angels and Infidels XX" 2005
mixed media on paper 24"x18"

Bottom: Gregg Carbo "Untitled" 2006
mixed media on embossed paper 40" x 30"

Paper View(s) will be on exhibit at Plant Zero's Project Space until September 20. It opened last Friday but the artist reception was postponed to September 8th from 8 to 10pm due to the threat of severe weather. I think Meredith feared that Noah would make his way down the James River and confront Paul D's Neptune in a flooded Shockoe Bottom. It was a nasty evening to be out anyway so I didn't mind the fact that the reception was post-poned. Who would even think about crossing the James after all the delays caused by Gaston's flooding?

It was a strange week with my jetlag induced state intensified by the threat of Ernesto and the reminders of Katrina's anniversary. Spike Lee's New Orleans documentary was being repeated on HBO all week and with New Orleans on my mind I just didn't feel like thinking about our show or anyone's art exhibit after seeing an hour of Lee's four part series. I still haven't seen the whole thing but we were in New Orleans in May so very little of the documentary was news to me. The best observation I heard was the Wynton Marsalis observation that the nation's response to this disaster crystalizes in one event all of the problems of our country. He compared it to a frozen unflattering reflection in a mirror... and my feelings are that he is right on the money. It made me very melancholy as I watched the rain and our drains like a hawk all morning. Its hard to believe it was the beginning of a holiday day weekend but there it was.

Solo, two or three person exhibits like the one at Plant Zero normally occupy all of my attention but this one came together at the last minute and without a lot of drama. (Perhaps this was the result of my absence or the fact that there was no time to obsess over things of little importance?)

Gregg Carbo installed 2/3 of "Paper View(s)" with the help of artist Tom Adair. Since Don left for Quatar in early August his wife Mil oversaw his installation by contractor who hung his work according to his specs. The result is very Don: long, tall and full of surprises. Everyone associated with this exhibition did a beautiful job and I think the resulting show is an interesting exploration of how we three approach the materiality of paper... I have known Gregg and Don's work for more years than I am willing to put in print and still, I am discovering things about our ways of working from this show that I did not know before. I guess that's what keeps me interested.