Going to the “Control” exhibit at the Ronald Feldman gallery in Soho was quite the experience. Right when I arrived I thought it peculiar that the gallery was so hidden away on Mercer and seemed to quietly house the exhibit. Initially, I thought I was in the wrong place. In a world of loud “look-at-me'” advertising I thought it was very interesting that “Control” sat so meekly on a small Manhattan street.
Upon entering, even the gallery itself has quite a lot of empty space but the simplicity of the presentation seemed to be quite fitting for Salavon’s muse. I realized the exhibit was split into two galleries. It was really cool to that Jason Salavon made his pieces “interactive” and it definitely added to the experience. Fooling around with all the buttons and knobs add a whole different perspective to the exhibit as a whole and it made it more enjoyable and entertaining.
The attention to detail that Salavon puts into his work is extraordinary —particularly in “Good and Evil ’12” and “<Color> Wheel”. At first it is so easy to look not notice the importance or even presence of the small images that create either the larger them of the work or the pattern of color. In his printed work, the use of smaller images was striking. In “Good and Evil ’12”, he really gets a strong message across to the viewer who is attentive and observant enough to notice the quieter themes that were creating the image as a whole. Especially in “<Color> Wheel”, at first the only phenomenon you notice is that relationship between the colors. The smaller internet derived pictures are essentially invisible at first glance. I thought this unique detail related to the exhibition itself. The gallery was simple and so easy to look past but when one takes the time to get a closer look, what you find is really quite intriguing.
Additionally, the sheer amount of pictures used to create these two words is mind-blowing. Salavon went through a process of shifting through an innumerable assortment of images in order to choose the right hundreds, probably thousands, of photos he needed for his work. Just the manual work and the quantity of pictures involved in creating these pieces is incredible.
I was definitely more captivated by the printed works of the “Control” exhibit. While the interactive nature of the north gallery was fun, it was a little confusing to understand the message he was trying to send. The lack of direction made for a vague interpretation of his work, at least in my opinion. Overall I thought the exhibit was different and thoughtful. Even though some of his pieces were unclear, it is evident that Salavon put a lot of work and meaning behind his creations even if the meaning was not overwhelmingly evident to the viewer all the time.
Sorry my nail looks super weird and creepy for some reason. #struggling
mmcsurveyofnewmediaspring13 