Navigable Obstacles

Posted by Brandon Ghigliotty in Visual Arts

Tom Miller’s first exhibition at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, Walling: Containing Architecture challenges the difficulties imposed by framing and claiming space, as well the implications of division. Perspective shifts from one side of the barrier to the other: On one side, hope and possibility; and on the other, denial and entropy.

“Long Wall with Fix,” a floor sculpture that dominates the entrance of Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, bisects the cracked, striated concrete floor. Gallery goers navigated the wall in their own way, with many simply reaching over to shake Miller’s hand, rather than work their way around. This is an intended consequence and a result of Miller’s desire to thematically enact walling and distance through a barrier installation. Throughout the night, people seemed to gather on the side of the wall that faced the entrance. Its white face interrupted by raw plywood patchwork near the top. The front starkly contrasts the rear, its naval-gray neutral hue and tank trap trusses evident and imposing. One side stands clean, welcoming and projecting perfection, while the other feels militarized and built to task. The same materials—plywood, resin and paint—crafted for different evocative purposes.

The work weaves through the gallery. A narrow stretch of hallway holds work that lies vertical in opposition to the long horizontal hall. Just before the path turns the hallway, “New Standard” appears. The perspective of the painting denotes two symmetrical swathes pulling away from the center, and each other, threatening to creep from its canvas and wrap around its privileged space.

“Small Tower“ marks the beginning of the hall, both obstacle and observation tower, with a peg leg repair that replaces one of the four feet it rested upon. In the hall, a piece known as “Slice“ beckons observers closer. “Slice’s” top shows marred, exposed wood—forgotten or uncared for; as a clean diagonal demarcation leads to perfection below. A large piece, “Corrugated Panel and I-beam,” leans against the hall’s end. An amalgamation that celebrates the process and materiality of the show, jutting out like a disembodied limb under the gallery lights, seemingly awaiting its installation as another barrier.

Photos by Sandra Schonenstein.