Perspective: Absorbing Rosson Crow
// March 24th, 2010 // View Comments // b-scene
Ahhh, New York… as sad as I was to leave London, it’s nice to have a fabulous art scene to explore, fresh venues to judge and new artists to discover.
I decided that b-uncut’s first blog in New York should be on a show that was inspired by the city itself. What better then Rosson Crow’s Bowery Boys at 18 Wooster Street, a Deitch Projects exhibition. As they say, timing is everything, and what I would discover was that my period of transition from one great art scene to the next has allowed me a rather unique perspective into Crow’s practice.
Crow’s large, bright graffiti interiors were right at home in the large, white warehouse-like SoHo space. The work achieves true harmony with the venue even the tagging across the street (included in the images below) eased the viewer in and out of the intense experience of Crow’s work.
The paintings evoke the rebellious 80’s punk underground scene in NYC with a splash of Pollock, Nauman, and Banksy, I was immediately in love. Neon pinks, blues and yellows practically levitated off the canvases. The vivid colors, the juxtaposition of geometric structures against reckless splatters and text, sat each piece – splat – between 2-D and 3-D, toying with the viewer’s perspective as they moved throughout the space.
With such commanding aesthetics, it was easy to overlook the political/social/historical content of the work. A female taking on macho settings with her ‘masculine’ technique, exploring the “bad boy” of New York’s history blah, blah, blah… I just wanted to sit there and look at them. Which is interesting, because apparently a year ago I didn’t.
In doing some pre-blogging research I stumbled upon Crow’s previous exhibition, Texas Crude, which took place at London’s White Cube in Hoxton Square last January. Browsing the images, I recognized them. The exhibition had been a part of the gallery tour seminar for my MA. I barely had any reaction to the work during our outing, replying with a grunt and a shrug when I was asked if I liked it.
We stood outside the space with our “expert” tutors and tore apart Crow’s work saying it was over-indulgent bad painting that used generic subject matter and sloppy technique to seem trendy. I believe my tutor’s words were “this show isn’t about good art, it’s about sales.” Most nodded in agreement, we moved on and the exhibition faded from memory.
A year later I’m faced with my paradox. I love this work. How … was last year’s indifference just the influence of an admired tutor and classmates? Did my appreciation of Bowery Boys merely stem from my fascination with big canvases and brilliant colors? Can I blame Crow’s inspiration (and my own prejudice) for my fickleness believing New York would obviously produce more successful work than London?
But none of these rationales provided satisfaction as I struggled with my shallow observations, until I realized that there may be one decent excuse. One of the few notes I made while in the Wooster St. space (which was at least 3 times the size of White Cube’s lower gallery) was that viewer position was crucial.
Standing right in front of a huge Crow canvas took away all its power. One wouldn’t have that choice in the White Cube gallery. It seems one is meant to peer into Crow’s contemporary interiors from afar, viewing each composition as a whole, not looking for intricacies and texture but taking in the scene, the history, and the impact. Its all about how you look at it. Love or indifference – a product of forced physical perspective… or at least that’s what I’m going with.
Decide for yourself and let me know… Check out Bowery Boys before March 27, 2010 @ 18 Wooster St.
