Kusama, Marclay and Conner in Accumulations
December 15, 2011

NEW YORK—Paula Cooper Gallery is currently presenting a group show featuring works by Yayoi Kusama, Christian Marclay, and Bruce Conner. The understated exhibition includes only seven works, but it strikes the perfect balance between three very accomplished artists where none upstages the others.

The two works by Kusama are book-ends to her career so far. A collage of black and white photographs entitled Accretion (no. Q) is a work from 1964, containing the repetition and wavy lines that are so closely identified with her art. The photos of phallic imagery recall the sculptures of Louise Bourgeois, who competes with Kusama for the distinction of record high price for works by a female artist. Those photos are cut and layered in a way that resemble waves in the ocean, a motif that is also visible the Infinity Net paintings that she began creating in 1954. An orange and black example of those highly desirable works, painted in 2008, also hangs in this show.

Christian Marclay is perhaps best know for his video The Clock, which won the Golden Lion at the 54th Venice Biennale. However, in this exhibition the video drawn from black and white archival footage was made by Bruce Conner. Cold War nuclear test are accompanied by elegant music, and the images unfold so slowly that the weapons of mass destruction are recontextualized as beautiful cloudscapes. The viewer might be reminded of the peaceful experience of looking out the window at the endless sky during a transatlantic flight. Marclay presents two sculptures made from recording devices. In the main gallery space, there is a large multicolored ring of cassette tapes that have been bound together with zip-ties. This post-modern patch-work quilt, entitled Moebius Loop, is complemented by a sculpture in a separate room called Tape Fall, which is comprised of a ladder with a large recording device on top. The reel of recording ribbon is streaming onto the floor, while being accompanied by the sound of water trickling.

Accumulations is on view at Paula Cooper’s 521 West 21st Street location until December 23rd.

Images via Moosse Magazineand De Stijl Records