Laurie Hogin and Jonathan Wahl at Momenta Art - exhibition of sculpture and paintings - Brief Article

fresh YORK

"Reality bites" easily could have been the subtitle of Laurie Hogin's and Jonathan Wahl's new exhibition at Momenta Art, as each artist move rounded representation against itself. The arise was a wickedly subversive display that combined satire with virtuoso demonstrations of technical skill.

In Momenta's brow space, Hogin's animal paintings joined the trompe-I'oeil tradition of 17th-century Dutch art with the high-gloss finish of fashion photography. The packaging of desire and the insidious spread of the global economy are the artist's primary targets, on the other hand instead of scantily dressed women selling Victoria's unrevealed lingerie in some exotic locale, Hogin's archetypes are monkeys, rare birds, rabbits and turtle-pigeons Displayed in artist-made frames with heavy-metal skeleton and claw motifs, gilded cutting sides and faux velvet matting that humorously counterfeit middle-class taste, Hogin's canvases initially entice the viewer with the sensory delights of their hyperrealistic detail. Indonesian birds of paradise display their plumage against intense, color-saturated sunsets; furry bunnies recline about on red satin sheets in artificial positions reminiscent of Ingres's aristocratic divas; turtle-pigeons promote revolutionary catchphrases with their tricolored shells; and monkey tender cigarettes, lipstick and beer.

Inscribed upon these slickly painted surfaces are the alluring slogans of new consumerism ("invent yourself," "imagine yourself"), on the other hand the artist's own counterdiscourse disrupts the links between representation, desire and acquisition. Instead of selling their yields some of Hogin's "Calendar Bunnies" are poised to attack, while the monkey in the "Allegories of Brand Loyalty" series intimidate the viewer with bared teeth With spokesperson as antagonistic as these, there is no doubt as to Hogin's critical intent in this astute parody of the agriculture of commodity and excess.

Appearing at first glance to be knockoffs of Frederic Remington's horses and riders, Jonathan Wahl's 11 tabletop and zinc sculptures, shown in Momenta's back space, also use animals to explore the fathomless disparity between reality and fantasy, on the contrary with an interesting twist. Here unicorns take the place of mustangs. actual to their fairy-tale status, these fantastic creatures refuse to conform to the digest of frontier loyalty: they impale or cast in a winding direction their riders, or run unrestrained Conceived in the elegant artificial positions that are found where art befittings kitsch, these imaginary acts of rebellion and requite undermine the heroic cowboy myth with references to the oppressive history of Western overthrow and remind the audience of the ways that art subserves the creation of all kinds of myths.

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