review in ATX Magazine:

OVER + OVER: PASSION FOR PROCESS
text . James Thomason

 

Austin Museum of Art showcases a whimsical collection of art and light in its early summer exhibition, Over + Over: Passion for Process and Again + Again: Cycles in Video and Light. These two exhibits, while different in size, context and media, converge on the themes of pattern and monotony.
The most striking installation is located inside the first large room on the right. Lisa Hoke's Gravity of Color, 2005, speaks to the inventive art student and child-like craft maker. A three-dimensional, swirling array of eye-popping color bursts forth from the corner of the room. Don't be deceived by its grandiose size and complexity in design, this piece did not cost a lot to construct. Using plastic cups, paper cups, hardware and paint, Hoke demonstrates the ease of creating art from the contents of a trashcan. Considering the long process involved in the work and the common materials used, this installation hints at the universality of design, color and ingenuity.
AMOA packed its walls with huge installations this time around. Continuing the theme of processes and objects of the mundane, Rachel Perry Welty was chosen to include her installation, Center Spread, 2006. Utilizing a continuous string of twist ties that measure 2600 feet long, Welty constructed a veritable screen of wire and shiny paper that covers nearly two entire walls. Overheard: "It's like a tapestry. It's so shiny!" Considering the theme of monotony and pattern, imagine the collection phase of her art, then the individual twisting of every small strand, then the measuring, and finally the mounting. What started as everyday useful items have been transformed into shiny wall art that "represents the physical connections that exist between people."
Towards the back of the museum, past the monstrous installation of old car tires that smells like truck stop and looks like a chopped up version of the Firestone wall at Sears, one will find Again + Again. These works demonstrate modernity in art using fragmented light, digital media and new fangled editing processes while still focusing on monotony and pattern. Christian Marclay's Telephones, 1995, is a video collage spanning decades of film while using the telephone prop as a linking theme. Vincent Van Gogh: 42 Self-Portraits, 2004, is a revolving, one-minute video display that melts one self-portrait into another. Dane Picard uses these very famous paintings as a cultural reference to the undying familiarity of Van Gogh's art and a tribute to ultra-modern editing capabilities. This piece is monotonous and hypnotizing, to say the least, for a die-hard Van Gogh fan.
AMOA will be running these two exhibits until August 6, 2006. Take a break and stop by the Museum at 823 Congress Ave. The show is fun, light-hearted and truly modern, keeping with the museum's vision of being Austin's premier center for contemporary, artistic endeavors.
www.amoa.org