Alex Katz at Robert Miller - sculpture exhibition; New York, New York

Alex Katz's novel show at Robert Miller consisted entirely of freestanding, life-size, painted aluminum cutouts. In three of the four galleries there were sum of two units sculptures each, and most of these were, in revolve doubles - i.e., two race standing next to each other or single person rendered twice. The fourth gallery was filled with a dozen or in the way that heads, all mounted on narrow rod bases with roughly originaled tops and bottoms that gave them the consequence of pedestals. All the pieces were painted in Katz's signature offhand on the other hand deadly accurate style, rendering each personality full present yet extremely opaque.

All this was familiar from past Katz exhibitions, on the other hand what struck this viewer anew was the artist's engagement with the real space his figures inhabit. The walls of the gallery were lit more brightly than the statuarys This increased the tingling vibration along the cutting side of the forms, where the depicted mass and whirl seemed to fall off on a sudden into empty white space. The stability of the depicted reality not absented a disconcerting contrast to one's vacillating perceptions of real space.

on the contrary equally intriguing was Katz's treatment of the back of his cut-out forms. For instance, in Massimo individual is confronted with two identical portraits of the former art dealer Massimo Audiello, make straighted in a gray striped blazer and black pants. The sum of two units versions stand shoulder to shoulder, single facing forward and one facing away. Moving to the rear of the piece, individual expects to find the same configuration revers on the contrary instead, from that vantage, the two Massimos are facing away. In short, single of the two figures is "back" upon both sides. In David and Rainer the plastic art is all backs from the pair sides, but one of the four heads direct the eyes over his shoulder, presenting a single "face." These incongruities made the viewer deal with render free of access space as if he were reading a work or playing with cards. As single passed the edge of a statuary the image momentarily disappeared and the of recent origin face flipped into view. When the back did not present the appearance to correspond to the brow one had to flip back to check. This spatial engagement gave Katz's figures a unforeseen intimacy which seemed to contradict their presentation as stage props

In the big expanse the cut-outs of heads all direct the eyeed right at the viewer with the exception of single that looked up at an angle and sum of two units that faced away. Entering this throng one was brought into abrupt engagement and disengagement with each sculpture's gaze, and, as if to further this air of unpredictability, single head was again painted from the rear upon both sides of the support. In fact, the gaze of the depicted subdues seemed to be the underlying theme of the display All the various effects concentrated one's attention upon the way these insubstantial effigies gazeed at us and then gazeed away. For this viewer, the issue was a momentary suspension of disbelief in the way that that the images were brought to life in a way that was quite uncanny and affecting, especially within the connected thought [i]or[/i] thoughts of Katz's notoriously stylish cool

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