Ben Roosevelt, District, 2007. Silhouettes cut into Kraft bags.
If you haven’t been to MOCA GA in a while, now is the time to pencil them in. With three exciting, simultaneous shows at their space, MOCA is asserting their role as a pillar of Atlanta’s art community.
Karen Tauches, Estancia Basin, New Mexico, 2007. Digital print on archival paper with hand painted disappearance.
The annual “Movers and Shakers” exhibition, featuring influential as well as up and coming Atlanta artists, boasts a range of talent from those who have saturated the galleries over the last couple of years to those who are barely known. Artists Elizabeth D’Angelo and Liana Repass were two newer artists who hold their own in rooms with more established names such as Suellen Parker and Nancy VanDevender. Some of my favorite pieces in the show are Karen Tauches’ Disappeared Houses series and Ben Roosevelt’s District installation. This show includes strong work from each artist and is overall a well-curated exhibit.
Martijn van Wagtendonk, Trickle Into a Lower Chamber installation.
Martijn van Wagtendonk’s installation in the main gallery, Trickle Into a Lower Chamber, requires a first-hand experience. The photos and video of the installation are simply unable to capture the entirety of the installation. The darkened space is lit by a single projected moon at the top of a transplanted house frame, while scattered bulbs cast tiny glowing halos within the great metal frame. A mysterious boat “floats” on the far corner of the house, covered in small wind-up birds. The birds move through sequences of pecking at the boat, creating jolts of movement that break the quiet of the room. The only other sound is the occasional drip of water.
Angus Galloway and Paul Rodecker, Drawing Correspondences installation.
In the Education Center, we find Angus Galloway and Paul Rodecker’s Drawing Correspondences. The series was compiled after they both graduated from the Georgia State MFA program. The two, who had collaborated throughout graduate school, decided to continue after Galloway moved to New York by mailing sketchbooks back and forth. The series features the cut-out sketchbook pages that made the postal journey between Atlanta and New York countless times. Each page exemplifies the intimacy of any artists’ sketchbook, through the usual coffee stains and worn edges, but the quality of the work is very much that of any finished drawing.
All three shows will be on display at MOCA GA through March 21. Martijn van Wagtendonk will be giving an artist talk March 5 at 6:30PM.
