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Deitch Projects
76 Grand Street
New York, New York
Street Market
October 5 - December 2, 2000
Deitch Projects is one of the hipper galleries
remaining in Soho. Opening a second larger space on Wooster Street
has now allowed them to feature more installation work on an even
grander scale. The present show "Street Market" is adapted
from the recent
"Indelible Market" show at the ICA in
Philadelphia which was curated by Alex Baker. In this new version
Barry McGee, Todd James and Stephen Powers continue their street
level perspective which seems, ironically, to be very marketable
art-wise. This show is made even more authentic and physical by
the addition of two over turned trucks and one caravan complete
with disheveled mattress and porn. This habitat gives the impression
of being in an abandoned lot in Los Angeles. A subculture of the
disenfranchised? In the recreated "bodegas" upstairs
the same fake consumers items are found: "street cred"
in a can and soda called "recess" with an uzi on the
label. A strange ambivilance is generated by mocking the sad state
of urban life while enjoying it’s recreation. A fondness
for the condition is apparent and humor offsets the underlying
serious intention. These ironies are more marked given this Soho
location and close proximity of hundreds of upmarket high fashion
stores. In one upstairs corner section of the gallery, a miriad
of more intimate, drawn sad sack faces (McGee’s trademark),
photos of friends, punks, and little paintings form a rag tag
salon-style installation. It is hard not to be compelled. Associated
with the skateboard crowd, this successful crossover from the
"graffiti" sphere into fashionable art world has obvious
precedents in the work of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat
(along with other influences) but with a different political resonance.
The place where these ruminations on our social inequities and
the artist’s painful private worlds collide is where the
true worth of this work resides. As with the wonderful
ICA
show, it is McGee’s superb draftsmanship
that holds things together.
©James Rosenthal
November 2000
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