For North America's first
exposure to the art of Nairy Baghramian the Contemporary Art Gallery has chosen Class Reunion (2008), a collection of eighteen individual
sculptures made of cast rubber, metal, and epoxy resin that are witty and intelligent. Reminiscent of early to mid-century
Modernism (with a nostalgic tip of the hat to sculptors like Noguchi and Arp)
it is equally reminiscent of that outdated vision of the future that tends to
black and white biomorphic abstraction in design (Woody Allen's
"Sleeper" for example).
By the ensemble's title (and
the titles of the individual sculptures) we are encouraged to see the gathering
as a quirky cast of characters.
Baghramian succeeds in engendering her forms with personality through
precise and elegant formal decisions including the elimination of almost any
regularity of outline. Bulbous
upper portions of sculptures are smooth and glossy, with slender lower portions
that swell and taper, terminating in feet or flat plates, some of which support
or are surrounded by slabs of translucent blackish, purplish rubber that look
like jello. Other sculptures are
irregularly cut and folded plate metal.
It is interesting how
naturally and definitively we as sentient beings associate form with personality. A straight line is serious; a diagonal
less so; and a curving loop the loop humorous. Considering balance, symmetry is serious, asymmetry not
(Part of the joy of Laurel and Hardy).
By their distribution we are
encouraged to form a narrative: For
instance, a husband, "Slacker 1" (the only piece without a rigid
armature), lays drunk on the floor.
Standing nearby his wife, "Flamingo," blushes pink. "Knucklehead Hither," the
AWOL appendage from Gogol's The Nose, scurries past. And
leaning in the corner distinct from all the others by amongst other things its
symmetry and enclosed volume is "Tomcat," the petulant loner.
Given her attention to detail
in form, Baghramian has been surprisingly casual in fabrication and
upkeep. Cast forms are pitted and
chipped, there are cracks and sags in painted surfaces, and what look like ill
considered gaps at joints where sections meet. An explanation may be in the gallery notes which say that
like much of Baghramian's other work, Class Reunion comments "on current issues of materiality,
manufacture and display while examining aspects of social and political
relationships." May be, but
sometimes, rather than engage in conversation, it's a lot more fun to sit on
the couch and make up stories about the guests.
First published in Canadian Art http://www.canadianart.ca/reviews/2013/01/09/nairy-baghramian-cag/
