REFRESH at PG Contemporary

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REFRESH
at PG Contemporary opens April 21 - 6.30-9.00pm
by Todd Camplin

PG Contemporary has an impressively campy little group show coming up that
blends the works by artists Alex Blau, Julon Pinkston, Ji Yong Kim and several others.
I say campy, but in a charmed loving way. Art that has a little fun in the process and
images that trick the eye can play on the edge of silly, but many of these artists seem
well practiced in their craft for me to not take them seriously. An element of kitsch
is at work here, but only to the edge of kitsch. What is kitsch?

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Julon Pinkston - Untitled, acrylic on canvas mounted on panel, 10 x 7 in, 2011

previous articles
by Todd Camplin

One of my old professors describes it in this question and answer, “why are other people’s
babies cute, because you don’t have to feed them, change them, and deal with them
when they are mad.” Fortunately, these artists seem to have some sense of reality, while
musing on the playful nature artists can have.

Alex Blau’s paintings are what I like to call, Plastic Fantastic. Rounded edges, glowing colors,
and a caked on feel makes these geometric paintings very attractive, but I can see how
the images and color combination add up to being close to kitsch. Blau seems to go right
up to the edge of kitsch and taunts it for a while. Luckily, Blau manages to pull back enough
to make it work. I think the illusion to absurdly simple shapes like flowers, burst of lines, and a
rocket make me a little apprehensive. I want to embrace the cuteness, but I feel a little
embarrassed I like these.

Alex Blau - Black Pinwheel - New Day - 2011
Acrylic on Canvas - 27 x 27

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Ji Yong Kim - Untitled 3 - 2012
Acrylic on canvas with mixed media - 12 ¼” x 14 ¾”

Other than Gustav Klimt, I thought the use of gold paint would never work, but somehow
and you expect the rest to be amateurish and kitsch, but Yong Kim plays with our
expectation and gives us a little more sophisticated mark making through the layers of
paints and shifting of techniques.

The complete list of artists is Alex Blau, Melanie Crader, Marzia Faggin, Frances Goodman,
Lindsay Nobel, Julon Pinkston, Micha Patiniott, and Ji Yong Kim. And the show looks to me
as if all the artists are enjoying themselves immensely. I had a great deal of conflicting
feelings about these artists, but I think I was won over, I think. Up until May 19 at
PG Contemporary , this edge of kitsch show is a worthwhile adventure.

canvas. These little paintings feel as if you could peel off all the tape to expose the raw
canvas, but in truth, the tape is really made of paint. Some work that seems to relate with
Pinkston’s art are the paintings by Marzia Faggin. Also in the show, Faggin is copying the
look of food by using materials like plaster, glue, and acrylic.