Misaki Kawai at LaMontagne, "Collision14: POV" and "LE:60 1-Minute Film Festival" at Axiom
By EVAN J. GARZA | February 11, 2009
Misaki Kawai, Tropical Fighter |
Misaki Kawai's new solo show marks the Boston debut of her two-dimensional works and the first opportunity for New England audiences to see her as a bona fide painter. Opening February 21 at LaMontagne Gallery, "MISAKI KAWAI: KUNG FU FOREST" exhibits new work from the young Osaka-born up-and-comer. New England audiences are no stranger to Kawai; her dreamy 2007 Space House installation for the ICA's "Momentum 7," with a cartoon space-pod dollhouse and zooming spaceships piloted by strangely crafted dolls, was one of the most impressive shows in the museum's then brand new space. At LaMontagne, paintings of weapon-wielding green monsters, lumberjacks, neon owls, and kung fu brawls will be set against intense chromatic backdrops of orange, yellow, and green. But there'll be three-dimensional pieces as well: two large "cut-out" sculptures composed of acrylic, fabric, cardboard, Styrofoam, and wood. UFO is, yes, a green saucer emitting a tall, diagonal, swirling orange beam down to the floor. Hunter (untitled) is a rifle-toting brightly colored bloke with a penchant for stripes and riding boots (count me in).Opening this Friday at Axiom Gallery in Jamaica Plain is "COLLISION14: pov," the newest project and the 14th group show from COLLISIONcollective. According to its MIT Web site, the collaborative was founded in 2002 as a means of "engaging with interactive robotic art" and "generally having a good time while being introduced to the future of art." (Sounds like a party.) For this project, the acronym "pov" stands for both "point of view" and "persistence of vision." The 16 featured artists explore "the ways humans envision time" through a technological investigation of the stability that exists in repetition and the motion that exists in stasis. (If you can't wrap your brain around that, did I mention it opens Friday the 13th?) Included on the roster is Joseph Farber, whose Medium Grind is an antique coffee grinder filled with inert M16 bullets; its bottom compartment contains not coffee grinds but a solid-state display screen. War metaphors, anyone?
And next Thursday at Axiom, the "LE:60 1-MINUTE FILM FESTIVAL" returns with its cache of 60-second masterpieces. It's organized by Lumen Eclipse, which screened the first annual fest last year in Harvard Square, transforming Palmer Street into an outdoor cinema. The winning films from that event can be watched on-line atwww.le60.org/gallery.
"MISAKI KAWAI: KUNG FU FOREST" at LaMontagne Gallery, 555 East Second St, South Boston | February 21–March 28 | 617.464.4640 or www.lamontagnegallery.com | "COLLISION14: pov" at Axiom Gallery, 141 Green St, Jamaica Plain | February 13–March 14 | 484.557.6924 or www.axiomart.org | "LE:60 1-MINUTE FILM FESTIVAL" at Axiom Gallery | February 19 at 7:30 pm
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