Hrag Vartanian

Kim Holleman: Law of the Land
Black & White Gallery
March 14 – May 25, 2008

Kim’s latest works seem like apparitions from a child’s imagination. Miniature worlds, vintage record players and glittery landscapes fill the whole Black & White gallery space, including the back patio.

The record pieces were the most visually impressive. Clear attractive colors, contrasting forms, and pop culture associations make them fun and riveting. The fact that there is a whole wall of alternative records with their own toxic landscapes makes them more interesting. I hope someone buys the lot, because they look great as a corner of discs and players.

“Congratulations on your success” (above) drops a park on a cake. Over the years the letters on the top of the cake seems to have disappeared (maybe it’s my faulty memory), as if it slowly it is reverting to a vegetal state.

The glitter-scapes look like they came fresh out of a paint-by-numbers kit and were completed by teenage girls obsessed with glitter. These works continues the tongue-in-cheek flavor of the show. Contrasts abound.

The satellite dishes were bathed in a feeling of quiet isolation. They seem fresh and vibrant.

In addition to the work on the walls, the mountain-scape of plastic bags in the back and the columns of enviro-columns with their own soundtrack (though it was hard to hear them at a gallery opening), there were “planted” radio-controlled cars driving through the space.

The enviro-fantasia was a welcome stop…and did I mention the wonderful life-sized “trailer park” parked out front which completed Kim’s artistic eco-topia. The future looks green.