Modern Painters

REVIEWS98 MODERN PAINTERS JUNE/JULY 2016BLOUINARTINFO.COMREVIEWSMOSCOW``````Taryn SimonGarage Museum of Contemporary Art // March 17–May 22``````THOUGH OUTNUMBEREDby quirky ceramics,the stars of So’s thirdsolo at Kate MacGarryare four machine-knit tapestries, eachof which is taut asstretched yarn. So usesa knitting machine(a tool that, despitebeing automated, seemsto require nearly asmuch patient labor asmedieval weavingdid) to produce an eye-watering repetitionRIOLQHVLQDUHDVRIÁDWneutral color, butthe graphic dark linesshe places as inter-ruptions—like thegreat diagonal thatsnakes across Untitled,2012—are more likethe strokes of masterdrawings: vigorous butcompletely economical.Yet almost as inwarp-and-weft weaving,a looseness is alsoevident. In largepart, it’s a matter ofSo’s way with repeatedmotifs, which arestrewn across multiple``````works in the show.One scallop-edgedparallelogram—a shapeappearing not forWKHÀUVWWLPHLQ6R·Vwork, and apparentlyoriginally drawn fromthe heroic beardsof Assyrian sculpture—emerges twice inSmoking, 2015: asDEHDUGRQWKHÀJXUH·Vstern face, and smallerand white, as smokepouring from hisclasped cigarette. Thissame beard-cum-cloudform reappears onthe face at the centerof Medallion 2, 2016,a ceramic roundel witha metallic glaze andan ersatz Roman air,and as lacings acrossthe vaguely Cossacktrousers that swathetwo pairs of legs spreadviolently akimbo in thecorner of Sunset, 2016.So is not afraid tocollage diverse culturalimagery, and herinterest in the trade inand dispersal of imageryacross boundaries has``````been noted, sometimeswith reference to herupbringing in bothHong Kong andAustralia. But herdeployment of motifsin this show seemsto pursue a vaguer, ifno less beguiling line:Like jigsaw piecescast about in a tempest,the hard-edged coexistswith a sense of liquidÁX[DQGYLFHYHUVDGiven the oversizeceramic cocktail glass(Spritz, 2015) standingRQÁLUWDWLRXVO\cocked legs, likesomething from BettyBoop’s most dizzying1930s escapades,the condition towhich the show mostclosely aspires mightbe drunkenness,or perhaps hangover:snatches of clarityattesting to littleepiphanies that all thesame, the morningafter, have merged intoan altogether moreMXPEOHGÁRZ—Matthew McLean``````THIS EXHIBITION BRINGS together two recentbodies of taxonomic work by New York–basedSimon—“Paperwork and the Will of Capital”(2015) and “Black Square” (2006–ongoing)—each comprising a series of photographs and asingle accompanying sculpture. As an artist,Simon prides herself on her ability to cataloguesociopolitical issues generally hidden fromview or inaccessible to the general public withstaged photographs of carefully identifiedsubjects. In this case, she offers an aestheticpuzzle of the history of contemporary capital-ism and cold war politics, presented in theshadows of nuclear annihilation.The images in “Paperwork and the Willof Capital” are interpretations of archival photosthat document meetings of governmentofficials or economic leaders when significantcontracts, treaties, and agreements weresigned—successors of the 1944 Bretton Woodsconference, which laid the groundwork foreconomic globalization. Simon’s versions arelarge-format, color or black-and-white photo-graphs of reconstructed versions of the flowerarrangements that bore witness to thesemeetings, referred to here as castrated symbolsof formality and status. The flowers are setagainst two-tone backgrounds, distilled fromthe qualities of the original photographs. Forexample, a sampling of desert succulents lyingupon a nut-brown surface against a flat, pale-gray background represents the 1981 conferenceat which American President Ronald Reaganauthorized the training of Afghan “freedomfighters” (mujahideen) to counter Soviet powerin the region. Painstakingly specific decisions,``````LONDON``````Renee SoKate MacGarry // March 10–April 16``````RIGHT:Taryn SimonBratislavaDeclaration.Bratislava,Slovakia, August 3,1968 , 2015.Archival ink-jetprint and texton archivalherbarium paper,85 x 73¼ in.BELOW, FROM LEFT:Renee SoInstallation view ofSunset, 2016, andCosmopolitanand Martini, 2016,at Kate MacGarry.``````FROM TOP: TARYN SIMON AND GAGOSIAN GALLERY; RENEE SO AND KATE MACGARRY. OPPOSITE, FROM TOP: KAREL APPEL FOUNDATION AND PICTORIGHT AMSTERDAM; TARYN SIMON AND GAGOSIAN GALLERY