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Caterpillar Logic II
Peter Buggenhout’s two monolith sculptures
appear in the white cube of Gladstone Gallery like remnants of ruins. The
masses stand several feet higher than its viewers and are covered in a thick
layer of black dust like some readymade or artifact untouched for decades.It is difficult to discern what is underneath. One
of the sculptures takes up several feet towards the center of the gallery while
the other leans against the wall taking up a comparable amount of space. Layers
of worn sheet metal, corrugated metal, rods, bars and other construction supports
are put together seemingly haphazardly into these abstract forms. Walking around the mass at the
center of the gallery what initially appeared to be a pile of detritus is
revealed to be constructed and hollow; it's opening featuring one large
component, possibly the corner of an enclosure. Its pair also features the
effect of a partial room torn in half and supported just foot or two above the
ground by the scraps of metal that create the sculpture. The exhibition’s title Caterpillar
Logic II is the first
semblance of intention to their design but it is unclear how this relates. This
could be a hint to the possible origin of the pieces of these constructions,
seemingly discarded from our modern era, and the aura of entropy that resonates
from the works.
The two installations, titled The
Blind leading the Blind #66 and The
Blind leading the Blind #67, are the latest in Bubbenhout’s series of the
same name, which began in 2008. The title's reference to Pieter Brugel’s genre
painting inserts another ambiguous commentary that is either didactic or
apathetic. The whole of Bubbenhout’s work seems to anchor along this question
of ambiguity. The works are not quite identifiable; they seem to reject any
origin.
As the viewer spends time
with the work, identifies its parts and attempts to build a logic it seems that
the work might be a sort of Smithsonian Non-Site but any affirmation is
rejected to the viewer. The only information a viewer can ascertain is that
they are viewing some construction of debris, of the unwanted, that it’s coming
from somewhere and that it has been forming for a while
Peter Buggenhout’s show Caterpillar Logic II at the Gladstone Gallery was the perfect space for his enormous installations. The galleries high-industrialized ceilings and minimalist design of the gallery worked with the industrial materials, garbage and the use of old buildings in the piece. I do like the fact that the artist’s intention is taking raw materials and transforming them into something else.
ReplyDeleteYour description and interpretation of the installation is great. The only section of the review I find unnecessary to speak about is the relationship of the exhibition title to the work itself.