Contributed by Mackenzie Kirkpatrick / In Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard characterized the corner as “a symbol of solitude for the imagination.” Jan Dickey, curator of “The Corner Show”at D.D.D.D. Gallery, has keenly embraced this notion through dynamic, imaginative artists who apprehend the corner as a kind of refuge.
At the entrance to the gallery space is Juvana Soliven’s Gauntlet I + II. Intricately crafted stirrups hang from a pink chain on one wall while a delicately beaded glove is draped through a pink triangle on the adjacent wall. Connecting the two sculptures, a thin pink line rises from the floor to meet the stirrups, then runs over and through the corner to the glove. Because the dimensions are variable, the arrangement can govern any amount of wall space and thus activate any corner. This open-ended quality makes the work a smart choice to initiate the show.
In the left corner of the third-floor gallery, Cordy Ryman’s Corner Stitch: Green seams one wall to the adjoining one. The wooden stitches extend up the corner to the ceiling then along the wall, appearing to bind the tin ceiling to the wall. These 30 or so stitches give the sense that without them, the space might implode. In contrast, across the gallery, Addison Bale’s poem, framed as an art object, contemplates the breaking and splitting of architecture.
At the third-floor gallery exit, Bradley Milligan’s assemblage of lumber and molding creates a web effect in the corner above the door. Upstairs, another of Milligan’s works occupies the floor in the left corner, mimicking the ceiling piece and conceptually linking the two galleries. Milligan locks into a rich history of corner sculptures. Robert Morris’s 1964 Untitled (Corner Piece) comes particularly to mind. Where Morris closes the corner into a solid form, though, Milligan leaves it open, allowing the viewer to fully enter the structure.
Also on the fourth floor, Julia Rooney’s Bluescreen (fourth edition) establishes artificial corners, as dressing screens or DIY room dividers would. The positioning of the work closes off one section, preventing access to a corner of the room, while creating six others. The five panels of the piece are accorded different levels of transparency, and the rectangular addition and subtractions to the screens recognizably have the scale of an iPhone. In adopting this modular approach to composition, Rooney introduces distinctly digital visual themes into the work, calling attention to the way we frame our own online enclaves while reserving physical space for the imagination.
A group show with such a specific theme runs the risk of presenting works that look too similar or explore the motif with too heavy a hand. “The Corner Show” easily eludes this pitfall, striking a deft balance between variety and cohesiveness.
“The Corner Show,” curated by Jan Dickey. Artists include Addison Bale, Emily Gherard, Kainoa Gruspe, Ai Makita, Bradley Milligan, Julia Rooney, Cordy Ryman, Andrew Schwartz, Juvana Soliven, Robert Straight. D.D.D.D., 179 Canal Street, Suites 3b and 4D, New York, NY. Through July 27, 2024. Closing reception from 5–7pm, featuring poetry readings.
About the author: Mackenzie Kirkpatrick is an artist and writer based in Brooklyn. He received his BA in art history from Lewis and Clark College and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in art history.
I think that is a wonderful description of the show. Very clarifying. Good work Mackenzie Kirkpatrick.