"Hands On, Hands Down" at the Studio Museum in Harlem

The latest artists-in-residence program at the Studio Museum in Harlem concluded with an impressive exhibition titled "Hands On, Hands Down." Curated by Christine Y. Kim, this formally coherent show featured the work of three young artists principally trained as painters. Each has recently introduced craft materials and techniques to his or her practice, lending a common thread of handmade tactility to works of varied content.

Craft traditions are most apparent in the labor-intensive art of Mickalene Thomas, who encrusts large birch panels with thousands of Swarovski rhinestones, each essentially functioning as a dab of pigment. Deriving her imagery from record covers, magazines and print advertisements, Thomas creates glittering portraits of scantily clad black women and big cats on the prowl. These two subjects are combined in The Untamed in Rousseau (2003), an overgrown jungle scene based on a famous photograph of Grace Jones crawling on all fours. By translating such pictures into vibrant, crystalline surfaces, Thomas underscores the savage exoticism that is typically attributed to black female sexuality while also invoking the pointillist style of artists like Georges Seurat.

Historical precedent likewise shadows the art of Louis Cameron, whose string sculptures and acrylic floor grids offer original recuperations of works by Fred Sandback and Carl Andre, respectively. Similarly, the newest paintings honor Conceptualist forebears like Sol LeWitt by generating unpredictable visual effects from Cameron's self-imposed directives. For these works, Cameron disassembles jigsaw puzzles and paints the constituent pieces according to the proportions of the color schemes of corporate logos. With the pieces reassembled on wood panels, the once scrambled colors create elegant abstractions while triggering vague brand recognition. Before the title of FedEx (2003) is noticed, for example, the distinctive combination of white, purple, orange and gray puzzle pieces may seem oddly familiar to anyone accustomed to overnight deliveries.

Rounding out the show, Deborah Grant presented mixed-medium paintings on thick wood panels, which she carves into such iconic profiles as Mickey Mouse and the Oscar statuette. As if suffering from horror vacui, Grant covers the shaped supports with densely packed words and images, mostly hand-drawn in black and white and loosely relating to the governing silhouette. In Just Send Polaroid (2003), the interlocking initials of the Chanel emblem contain myriad references to rampant consumerism and urban poverty. While first appearing subdued in the company of rhinestones and eye-grabbing abstractions, Grant's paintings ultimately convey a relentless visual and textual chatter.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group