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| ABOUT TRaC |
Visual Arts TRaC Fall 2004
House with Pool by Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler As pessimists, or rather realists, are borne, we tend to focus on the negative aspects of society and our own personal lives. In discovering our surroundings, we are often faced with situations where the rich and elite crowd receives what we strive for. We fall for what we see with our eyes and our beliefs are often based on that, driving many to a state of solitude and uncertainty. Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler present the truth to us in their latest exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, titled "House with Pool." A mood of isolation attracted me to Hubbard and Birchler's recent exhibition, which included both a video and a series of photographs of an elitist home after a party. Of these, I felt that the photographs' life stills from a video, which shows a woman perusing her home after an evening soiree were especially moving. Through objects, they portrayed her psychological intensity by capturing the desolate essence of empty glasses and the lost yet aesthetic feel of leftover hors dioeuvres. Four photos were displayed in a small rectangular room like faces of a geometric shape'd all different in their own ways, but part of a whole: the same interior space. The series seems to have been presented in chronological order, exerting sentiments of solitude and isolation through wasted delicatessens, which have been left to absorb the liquid in the glass and the petals of the withering flowers. They are all similar in tone, due to the fact that they were all taken after the same event. Nonetheless, each image provides a separate mood in its use of color. The first image portrays empty drinking glasses, withering bouquets and half-eaten caramels and sweets representing the affluent nature of the party through partially consumed treats. Similar fragmentation can be seen in all of the pieces, for the images all seem to be missing a portion of the whole, as though it were literally pulled off of the resin-coated paper. The atmosphere lacks both vivacity and energy. Another image varies slightly: the drinking glasses are of green and blue tones as opposed the previous clear and translucent glasses and the flowers in the bouquets are naturally staggering, due to the color of the petals. The image that follows this one is of a glass with a maraschino cherry inside, a bright red and brisk image, suggesting not only the festivity of the event, but the recent departure of anorexic socialites who nibbled like mice on a tart. The final photograph was the one I spent the most time observing and devouring, for it was a summation of the discomfort that had built up at that point. Here, radiantly colored citrus fruits, which had been sliced, such as oranges and limes were portrayed. They may portray animation and energy, which in this case impaired the viewer's eyes, for they were like rays of light striking directly into and burning the pupil. This brightness, however, turns strangely somber. In this piece in particular, brown or blue hues are introduced by using food that is cut into slices and starting to rot: a factor contributing to the pessimism in the show, or rather, reality. An orange s peel no longer has substance or flowing juices; this thought concluded my tour with an oddly seductive sense of loneliness and demise.
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