Hrag Vartanian

(Un)spoken is based on a great premise, a group exhibition that explores the boundaries of collaboration and artistic production within the context of a marital relationship.

The three opposite-sex artist couples are:

• Linda Ganjian & Jesse Lambert,
• Karen Dow & Christopher Mir, and
• Maggie Michael & Dan Steinhilber.

Curated by Jessica Buckley and Liza Statton, the exhibition blurb points out that:

Unlike other contemporary artists-couples, such as Jeanne-Claude and Christo, the six artists included in (un)spoken have worked to create art individually, but never collaboratively.

It’s hard to believe that these artist pairs didn’t collaborate on most things, even if it is off the record. As a case in point, I noticed that each artist couple shares a common website design or web presence (Ganjian & Lambert chose minimalist designs, Dow & Mir prefer clean and grey sites, while Michael & Steinhilber chose Artnet as their showcase).

I have to admit that since the show is taking place in Connecticut, one of the only U.S. states to legalize gay marriage, I was expecting at least one same-sex couple in the mix but maybe next time.

The GANJIAN/LAMBERT Collaborative Sculptures

I learned about this project through a message I received from Queens-based artists Ganjian & Lambert, who have used their recent experience as parents as the source material for their collaboration. Colorful, playful and friendly, the five works they created together are remarkable for blending Ganjian’s organic forms and clean aesthetic with Lambert’s exuberant palette and maximalist sensibility.

Lambert says the five sculpture were created over the course of two months and are inspired by children’s toys–I can definitely see the influence Fisher-Price might have had on a work like “Push & Bite.”

The results look like anime-inspired sculptures which make you want to run to the candy shop and snag bags of gummy bears and Japanese jellies.

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Artspace
New Haven, CT
April 2 – June 6, 2009