A review of the current exhibition, Time-Sensitive, at the OSU Urban Arts Space:
Two days a week, I see unsettled water, littered with resplendent trash, and flowers and necklaces swaying in the waves without ever really relocating.
I tread by houses, some immaculate and new, and some that once were, but are now in fragments and trashed. Pieces of furniture share the area, many burned to black ashes. Nearby, chocolate casts of several dead birds lie among the ruins.
In a corner of the room, a wooden boat (bound with string to weather balloons), floats above the now deflated balloons— having expired and currently rest, blanketing the floor.
I read personal memos written on bookmarks, now nestled in ghostlike pages of the book they once inhabited. Strangers have long since forgotten these reminders, and randomly I recall them.
I walk by hanging wallpaper, constructed of statue images, plastic bags and growing plants. This seems reminiscent of my younger years.
A glass vase showcases encapsulating flowers. Concrete smothers the delicate petals. Saturated images delicately hang on the walls surrounding the vase. Their corners are curled, deteriorated and worn.
Around the corner, red yarn stretches from the wall, draping onto long sticks held up vertically by the tension of pinched bricks; the yarn’s ends remain balled up on the floor. A similar set-up neighbors this tableau, as it displays a precarious balancing act.
I become part of a film as I trample on a projection, manipulating what is visible to its audience. My silhouette becomes the protagonist. Next to me a man kneels, digs and burrows into sand. He doesn’t say anything to me as I pass him.
I see flashes of fingerprints, documenting the allusive identification of one person.
Thawing ice acts as a viewing device, as it displays two men shooting rifles. The men vanish as the ice diminishes into water.
I am able to watch paint on a wall crack and fracture in several seconds, despite the actual amount of years it would take to occur. Across the room, a meek hole dilates into a satellite view of landscapes, but soon retracts into emptiness.
Two days a week, I intern at the OSU Urban Arts Space. I walk through the exhibitions as I facilitate the day’s opening and am given the opportunity to immerse myself into this otherworldly atmosphere created by imaginative and conceptually driven artists—in this case, the artists that comprise Time-Sensitive.
Time-Sensitive, presented by ROY G BIV Gallery for Emerging Artists, features artwork that explores the idea of the ephemeral. The exhibition is currently on display until January 29, 2011, at the OSU Urban Arts Space, located at 50 W. Town St., in downtown Columbus. The Space is open Tuesday-Saturday, 11am – 6pm, with extended hours on Thursday until 8pm. (Although it is currently closed for the holidays between December 21 and January 1). Please call us at 614.292.8861 or Email us with questions. Visit our website at uas.osu.edu.
GCAC Presents is a bi-weekly column brought to you by the Greater Columbus Arts Council – supporting art and advancing culture in Columbus – in partnership with the Columbus Arts Marketing Association, a professional development and networking association of arts marketers. Each column will be written by a different local arts organization to give you an insiders look at the arts in Columbus.