Walking into Noel Middleton's Order of Operations at Narwhal Gallery brings me back to the hall of plaster casts at the V&A Museum in London. He has filled the modest gallery with plaster sculptures evoking Roman statuary, columns and artifacts. He is intentionally calling the viewer to think back to objects of antiquity through his presentation and yet the pieces are casts not of ancient carvings but rather the detritus from renovations that happened in the the very gallery he's situated them. On closer inspection the statues can be seen as effigies to various trades associated with building; the plumber, the electrician and the framer. Middleton even marks the passage of time through a tower of cast toilet rolls that evoke a measuring stick at an archaeological dig.
Like the previous renovations that Middleton peeled away, the work also can be viewed as many layered, referencing the demands and restraints that materials place on process, the restoration and appropriation of past cultures, and the importance of seeing the value in cast off and abandoned objects.
The show is absorbing and, like many museum displays of antiquities, overwhelming in content and volume. The individual pieces each carry their own power and battle for attention and place. The sublime texture of the plaster and majesty of the constructions contrast sharply with the textures of mundane materials found on closer inspection. I was delighted to witness Middleton's veneration of tradespeople, having prayed and cursed to their earthly counterpoints time enough.
photos courtesy of Narwhal Gallery
photos courtesy of Narwhal Gallery
No comments:
Post a Comment