Falling down…

There’s a distinctly soulful quality in the work of Oriane Stender whose current quilted and collaged pieces  are now on display along with Nancy Baker’s work in a show at Flanders Gallery.  Stender utilizes actual U.S. currency as her main medium and has shredded, collaged, twisted, folded and woven dollar bills with incredible variety. Some of her pieces are practically illegible as printed money while others flaunt the connection, forcing a new visual dialogue with objects which, like the target before Jasper Johns, we are so accustomed to seeing that we hardly pay any attention to their aesthetic any longer. (Perhaps the effect is even more enhanced now that cash transactions have been so widely ururped by the plastic of the debit and pre-bust credit card worlds.)  The show as a whole is a knockout display and the spirit of Stender’s work’s in particular  comes in no small part from the poignancy her pieces possess residing as they do in the tatters of our downfallen economy.  The current woeful economic climate is in fact the driving point of the entire show:  the aftermath of imperialism on the downslide.  Art itself of course has had to deal with the fallout of the economy and it’s no secret that it dwells in the realm of luxury products.  As necessary as food and shelter?  Of course not, but culturally sustaining and nourishing all the same.  And when art is presented in this fashion: blatantly constructed out of the very stuff that carries all the literal economic weight of how its valued, appraised, commoditized, traded, and invested, then of course the show’s overtones can’t help but dwell in the fetishistic.  It’s a double edged, yet provocative, sword if there ever was one.

Two works on display especially empower Stender’s presence in this show.  “Money Curtain” is an exemplary piece utilizing what must be several dozens of shredded bills woven into a delicate lace reminiscent of Moorish decorative patterns.  Yet here the qualities of stone architectural pattern have been transformed into a fragile wall hung work of paper equally as hypnotic and alluring. It’s as if the Alhambra’s builders spent a day corroborating with the U.S.Mint.  Looking at the piece you are aware that it is made quite literally of money but the work seduces not due to this physical quality alone but rather because the patterns, repetition, and symmetry grab your eye and voraciously won’t let go.

The most notorious work of Stender’s in the show “Fallen Quilt” is especially emblematic of the potential of her visual and narrative technique and also carries a powerful double wallop.  Stender took her cue from the point several years ago when the New York Times, which had been printing photos of all the U.S. soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan passed the 1,000 fallen soldier mark.  Then sadly came 2,000, then 3,000… Her quilt is constructed from small shards of the Times print features of photos of those soldiers and forms both an homage and a gripping embodiment of the vastness of the entire conflict.  The piece is not just tragic but supremely sobering in the realization that wars are never ending narratives of loss and commemoration.

Nancy Baker has mounted a compellingly complementary array of mixed media gouache paintings in the show bolstered by a large installation piece in which she’s created her own straw man so to speak. But this time rather than straw he’s made of cardboard (literally a cardboard set of multi-colored construction bricks) and stacked in a gallery corner like oversized fake Legos.  The enterprise is meant to engender the sense of fragility our economy is in the throes of right now and the piece does indeed feel like it might blow over at any moment- much like the mortgage crisis itself.  Combined with Stender’s shredded paper pieces, it starts to feel like the strength of our entire economic system is all fake and might fly out the door at any moment.   I can’t help but think that Baker must have suffered recall of George W. Bush’s widely derided post 9/11 suggestion to Americans to go shopping and fly frequently to help restore a sense of normalcy.  (Pardon any inflictions of painful memories here from that incident. But that sober realization of our existence still lingers: this is the extent of all we’ve become?  Shoppers?)

The sense of profligacy over prudence is a driving theme of Baker’s recent work  Her collages all contain blatant images of the good life such as big old glittering diamonds, strings of pearls and glamour pin-up figures floating around like a nebula. The overall effect is a constellation of Pop and bling with a little mystery thrown in here and there (reference the occasional floating eyeball, leaf or flower for instance.)  Centered in each work are the titles such as “Epiphany & Co”, “Destiny”, “Cardiac (from Cadillac)”, and “Letgo”.   Glitter is carefully applied for extra ad eye-popping glitz just where needed.  Other pop culture symbols appear:  Porky Pig, gushing oil wells, Hello Kitty and a few Chinese dragons to make sure the up and coming next Empire is represented.

The tandem approach of this show enlivens the presentation and strengthens the concept.  While Baker or Stender likely could have pulled this off as a successful solo show, I’m glad they decided to tag team it.   After all if you’re a tanking economy, there’s nothing like a little company to offset the misery.

Empire Falls: Nancy Baker & Oriane Stender at Flanders Gallery, Raleigh through March 28, 2010