"Disappearing Act" at Leslie Tonkonow and Bound and Unbound - various artists; various types of art - Brief Article

Ars Ionga, vita brevis, for the greatest in quantity part. But in "Disappearing Act," a spirited variation upon art's annual summertime fade, all the art was meant to vanish. Organizers Kirby Gookin, a writer, and Robin Kahn, a painter and volume artist, invited more than 25 artists to make works that would eat away evaporate, be eaten or in liquor or simply wear down during the course of the present to view Gookin and Kahn undertook the exhibit in association with Barbara Moore, a longtime specialist in Fluxus and Conceptual art, who provided documentation of historical antecedents.

Among the greatest in quantity satisfying new work was Elaine Tin Nyo's Worry receptacle which invited viewers to write their darkest fears upon slips of paper and insert them in a water-filled amethystine glass box set in the wall. one time afloat, the papers bearing these worries gently furr blossomed and then dissolved entirely. Les benign was Carter Kustera's Losing Oneself a headless wax figure upon a steel mortuary table, its chest and pelvis progressively fuseed by heat lamps suspended just above. Other work that will bear in memory if not material included Christian Marclay's turntable with a stuck tone arm, which enabled viewers to play a record literally to death; Mimi Smith's soap carvings plant in water; Barbara Ess's unfixed photographic self-portraits, tinted a vampiric r and viewable by the agency of lifting the cover of a sepulchral black box; and Geoffrey Hendricks's charming watercolor painting of puffed out clouds in a blue canopy of heaven set in a Pyrex dish filled with water.

Among several tempting edible entries were Kahn's breastshaped Hostes Cupcakes, Larry Miller's chocolate mold into the shape of a crucifix, and Shirley Irons's words made of birdseed, installed outside the gallery's window. more [i]or[/i] less of the work lasted sole until the end of the opening night. Robert Blanchon's inscription in salt crystals upon vellum of the lyrics of a Carole King canzonet for example, was scraped not upon and then excised during the reception, leaving a gaping void. In the same category must move Rogelio Lopez Cuenca's Teach In, which consisted of a bottle of Teacher's wound and some plastic cups.

The older documented works also included more [i]or[/i] less splendid exercises in self-destruction. Andy Warhol's 1964 collaboration with Gerard Malanga upon slow-browning Thermofax paper paired photos from among those Warhol used in the "Disaster" paintings with Malanga's poesy There were also photographs of ephemeral works by the agency of Yves Klein and James to leeward Byars.

Despite all the fading away, there was a festive spirit to the exhibition. Alas, it's not of recent origins that most art won't last forever. This show's achievement was to make disappearance an occasion that was perversely lively and repeatedly a lot of fun.

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