Bit Logic
At: GASP, 362 Boylston St., Brookline, through Sept. 30. 617-731-2500, www.g-a-s-p.net
September 16, 2005
Drawing connections
''Bit Logic," a group show at GASP, grapples with the giant topic of what signs, symbols, and imagery mean to us. That's the stuff of art itself, so we're diving into meta-interpretive realms here. But the exhibit, curated by Jennifer Schmidt and Chantal Zakari, pulls it off in a small space, making pleasing visual and conceptual connections along the way.
Schmidt and Christine Tarkowski each riff on the medium of design. Tarkowski, reflecting on how we become inured to our wallpaper, has covered gallery walls with white paper that has been shot repeatedly with a 9mm gun and hammered in with giant nails. Schmidt's beautiful cut-paper piece ''Waterlogged 1916-2005" uses a lacelike design to suggest a river and waterfall. Her accompanying video alternates a waterfall scene with the rushing pattern of her own cutout images.
The pairing of handmade and digital shows up elsewhere as well. Zoe Sheehan Saldana makes cross-stitched portraits that look as pixelated as any low-resolution digital image. Zakari and Mike Mandel have recently been making art exploring the public/private intersection of sex chat rooms, and they've blown up a scene they found on the Internet of a couple engaged in oral sex. Turned into a mosaic of 1-inch tiles and mirrors, it fills a wall. The work is disturbing and powerful -- a beautifully crafted depiction of a private moment put on display.
For light relief, but no less pointed commentary, look to Heidi Cody's prints, Audubon-esque studies of wildlife in which bright plastic objects morph into birds. ''British Flamingo" puts a pink squeeze bottle on bird legs to create a haughty-looking creature.