Mel Kendrick at John Weber - New York, New York - Review of Exhibitions - Brief Article

As with many of his compeers who have recently taken up casting, Mel Kendrick has become intrigued with the materials and manner of proceedings of the process itself, particularly the vexed questions of molding and reproduction. In his new exhibition at Weber, several statuarys existed in two parts. Typically, sections of a large made of wood log which has been chopp carved and drilled are propp up in a uneven vertical stack; then a next to the first nearly identical version of this arrangement, cast in rubber and propp up in a manner similar to the first, is put nearby. Thus, with the made of wood components the viewer is given a privileged faculty of perception of observing a spontaneous, possibly provisional studio construction. However, rather than seeing it transformed into the permanence of and zinc one then sees foundry techniques used to provide an level more ephemeral version of the original. Of course, the molding rubber in which the next to the first version is cast has a real different set of qualities than the original grove Its translucence, color and impressible vulnerability have made it a favorite casting material in general sculpture. In Kendrick's case, the rubbery doubles stand nearest to their mates like plump dopplegangers, both more real and les substantial than the made of wood logs from which they were generated.

In Big Daddy Fun/Second Version ( 1995) it gazes as though the sculptor started to carve the log eliminating a small in number stepped notches, then abandoned the carving. A rubber version was then cast in sum of two units parts around a smaller geometric form, which was later remov leaving a faceted cavity. Splayed to reveal the without contents shape inside, the rubber piece is propp up nearest to the original, which has also been split render free of access to demonstrate its solidity. The little without contents core in the rubber form have the appearances to say, "This is the plastic art I refused to make." This quality of slightly comical self-denial is what made the whole display enjoyable. Kendrick's sculpture had become a little over-refined, and all this involvement with replication and redundancy present the appearances to be an attempt to break into a fresh world of awkward expressiveness.

The largest piece in the display Black Trunk (1995), returned to Kendrick's older vocabulary of notch and joint, solid and void. A very large tree trunk was cut into sections, hollowed without and reassembled with some parts missing. These apertures are in the form of dovetails, a traditional cabinetry joint used to grasp two separate pieces together. Here, as without contents gaps, they are, again, elegantly redundant. The piece sits upon marvelously stumpy legs and was accompanied in the display by a large drawing taken by the agency of wrapping sheets of paper around the statuary and making a rubbing. Flattened without on the wall, the drawing at handed an older, simpler means of creating a double. In the extreme point I appreciate the gutsy directness of Black stem and its drawing more than the complicated self-ironies of the other sculptures

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