Review :
Cherry Cherry Quite Contrary
by Madeleine
Like
a red bubble it glistens, suggestive and sweet it is the apple’s
mischievous younger sibling- the cherry. Lauded in art and poetry,
tattooed onto biceps, and baked into countless pies, a ripe cherry’s
tangy sweetness and soft flesh is forever linked to the duality of
sex, maybe because clothed inside a cherry red hide, lies a pit.
New
York artist Andrea Corson uses the eternally optimistic cherry to
conjure images of sex and power, love and lust and those humorous
first attempts at find the Latin term for sex here in her installation
“Untitled (Cherries).” Currently on display at Spiller Vincenty
Gallery as a part of their group show, Fallen Fruit, one might argue
that “Untitled (Cherries)” is a tongue-in-cheek look at love’s labors
lost, if not simply the labor of love; and the most successful work in
the show.
The
installation, consisting of over 3000, photo-realistic hand sculpted
cherries carefully placed upon a vinyl covered mattress-as if the
cherries might leak and decompose- is also a monument to domesticity
and the home. Made of Femo clay, which is available in small
quantities at any craft store and baked in her own oven, her process
and material subtly suggests the art of “women’s work.” Those tasks
that must be done in order to insure the harmony of the home,
traditionally a wife or sister’s role, and women throughout history
have invested their own creativity and quirks in these chores. Thus
“Untitled (Cherries)” becomes a sly homage to everyone who has ever
invested a seeming mundane task with the sublime. Of the piece Corson
has said “ [that the] bed functions as a physical and emotional
platform, hinting at optimistic attitudes towards sexual play. While
Shannon Chemlar (gallery assistant) expresses an unabashed fascination
with the work itself remembering “…that each tiny cherry was carefully
wrapped in its own cradle of foam, and simply unwrapping each one
(cherry) felt like a part of the process [of the work].”
However, the most engaging aspect of “Untitled (Cherries)” is the
sense of beauty and fragility that informs it. Sumptuous in color and
allegory, the work is as luxurious and unnecessary as fois gras, and
as rewarding. The group show “Fallen Fruit” will be on display at
Spiller Vincenty Gallery through February 20, 2004.
