Dan's Papers - July 18, 2008

Combining text and images is not a particularly new technique for contemporary artists; who can ever forget Barbara Kruger's wall pieces which helped usher in conceptual art?

Matthew Cusick's 's current work at Glenn Horowitz Bookseller takes the form to different heights and widths with surprising effects. Such effects are both intellectual and emotional, especially if you count the laughs this critic enjoyed when looking at specific work. The fact that Cusick uses his own books or those of family members as a personal and political medium is another intriguing result. (There's another observation to be made here. How perfectly appropriate that the print medium is featured in a bookstore.)

Consider "Ether," a collage composed of pages from both an old western civilization schoolbook and a Catholic Bible. The words have been rearranged and paragraphs displaced. The pattern seems arbitrary and even nonsensical, thus reinforcing the idea that the books themselves are also illogical. The name "ether" signifies other meanings associated with an inflamable compound, reinforcing the war images evoked by the piece.

Another work, "Leviathan," suggests the ground rather than the air becoming a beautiful landscape made from a map. The bibical figures placed above the map transforms Cusick's artwork into a statement about opposites: the spiritual and the physical. A series of pages torn from diverse textbooks is the artist's most imaginative endeavor. Cusick has erased all the words from the pages, leaving one or two sentences. Not only is the content meaningful but the placement is as well.

For example, one illustration features several dolls at a tea party. The words on the page are "Nobody Cares." Obviously, the viewer can relate this comment to the lonely little girl who may own the dolls. Another illustration shows Native Americans in the forest; the only words on the page are "Get On With It."

One can't help but wonder if Cusick has a penchant for filmmaking; his affinity for editing language and images is a giveaway. Speaking of movies, Kevin Teare makes reference to The Manchurian Candidate in his painting, "There are Exactly 57 Reds." Even so, our favorite is a work with fashion illustrations from the 1950s (we think) juxtaposed with globs of paint. The textured, colorful paint combined with the black and white drawings make for a dynamic design.

This show will be on view at East Hampton's Glenn Horowitz Bookseller until August 3.