exhibit reviews:
Clare
Rojas, Gallery Paule Anglim
San Francisco, CA
by Tonya Warner
My
Alice-in-Wonderland Trip to P.S.1,
P.S.1
Long Island City, NY
by Rea Cris
My
My Marfa
Marfa, TX
by Tonya Warner
Prema
Murthy, PS1
Long Island City, NY
by Greggory Bradford
Mike
Peter Smith
Jeff Bailey Gallery
New York, NY
by Rea Cris
Mike Peter Smith :
Void Thoughts on Remote Time
Jeff Bailey Gallery
New York, NY
9 October - 10 November 2007
by Rea Cris
Mike Peter Smith's predominant material is the human skull which he crafts
and morphs to present a whole new way of approaching our own anatomy,
in the same manner as Jessica
Harrison does with human teeth. What we imagined was immutable
has been turned on its head.
The exhibition is a mixture of cabinet of curiosity fakes, horror movie
special effects studio and anthropological discoveries. A totem pole of
mutated skulls crawls towards us on its spidery fingers. Human, duck and
raccoon skulls are assembled together reminiscent of the alleged "merman";
the skeleton of a baby attached to a fish. Miniature habitations and palm
trees sprout from crushed relics. We recognize and identify elements of
our skulls, but are equally tempted into believing in the existence of
new creatures; are they human, alien, reptile or dinosaur? Are they from
the past or what we will resemble in the future? These pieces suspend
us in time.
Peter Smith's work is a humorous approach to the memento mori, reminding
us that we all will die, but also know how to laugh.
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