Between Image and Object - Landon Metz at von Bartha
Jun 18, 2018
Over the past half decade or so, Brooklyn-based artist Landon Metz has been gravitating towards an aesthetic position that speaks to the notion of repetition. Using a method borrowed from Helen Frankenthaler, inventor of the Soak Stain technique in which pigment is applied directly onto unprimed canvas, Metz creates multi-paneled paintings that act as sort of visual echo chambers. Each individual canvas supports simplified biomorphic forms that could theoretically be contemplated as solitary images. But Metz then repeats the image onto multiple canvases and exhibits them together in a series. When the canvases are conjoined, the image becoming a pattern. The individual forms are thus subjugated, along with the individual canvases, as what comes into existence is more of an object or an installation than a group of paintings. The pattern-image-object communicates a idea—the idea of infinity. The pattern could go on forever, continuing indefinitely onto more canvases and onto more walls, forever into space and time. It is a highly simplified and straightforward aesthetic position, yet one that is infinitely pleasing to look at. Its latest manifestation is on view in the exhibition Feels So Right Now, at von Bartha gallery in Basel, Switzerland. Timed to open concurrently with Art Basel, this exhibition is understated, and yet also complex. It expands the ideas Metz has developed into new conceptual and physical realms, and yet in some ways it exposes one of the most serious weaknesses of the mindset of this artist—his belief in the importance of the self-awareness of art.
A Subtle and Perfect Show
Feels So Right Now shows that Metz is truly a multi-disciplinary artist by unfolding his concept across the mediums of sculpture, painting, and sound. As viewers enter the space, a sculpture in three parts interrupts their straightforward path towards the back gallery. The sculpture—a three-dimensional manifestation of the images Metz paints—is a visceral, spatial application of the idea of infinitely repeating forms in space. Beyond it, there at first appear to be no more works. At least there are none the walls or on the floor. Instead, Metz has responded to the unique architectural features of the room by lining two angled expanses on the ceiling with his dyed canvases. Only once you look up do you realize they are there: two lines of canvases employing the same biomorphic form, each in a different hue—one pink and one blue. The patterns literally repeat on multiple levels, in multiple dimensions, and in multiple trajectories.
Landon Metz - Feels So Right Now, installation view at von Bartha Basel, 2018. Photo courtesy von Bartha
By hanging the canvases this way, Metz declares that the architecture of the exhibition space is part of the show. He also declares that active participation on behalf of the viewer is necessary in order to experience the work. We must look up instead of looking straight ahead, a simple variation from the typical gallery show that is nonetheless profound enough to force a unique perspective. Additionally, Metz has made the air inside the gallery part of the exhibition, as an audio installation transforms the environment into what Metz calls “a solemn and meditative atmosphere.” Taken at face value, the exhibition is a subtle and perfect expression of some of the big ideas Metz examines in his work. It is aesthetically challenging; it invites viewers into a novel relationship with their surroundings; and it takes his personal visual language into new territory.
Landon Metz - Untitled, 2018, Pigmented acrylic, resin and mineral aggregate, 16 x 1011 x 491 cm. Photo courtesy von Bartha
An Apt and Unforgiving Title
Where Feels So Right Now struggles is in the realm of confidence. Metz is one of the most historically aware artists of his generation. He is conscious of what has already been done in the field of the plastic arts, and he is aware of the ways the art world interacts with all other aspects of human culture. He is aware of architecture, design, decoration, and human psychology. All of these areas of interest inform his aesthetic process. This point to which he has come in his career is the culmination of many years of development and evolution. The phrase Feels So Right Now could be interpreted as a statement of confidence regarding the sense of peace he might have about the state of his practice. Or it could also speak to the sensation he hopes to offer the viewer—that meditative atmosphere he is trying to create. But the way I read it speaks more to a sense of the self-conscious place so many artists dwell in today, like the title speaks to this moment: so right now.
Landon Metz - Feels So Right Now, installation view at von Bartha Basel, 2018. Photo courtesy von Bartha
More than ever we are in an atmosphere of endless self-reflection. Every collector, dealer and institution asks artists to justify their work, their ideas, and their motivation for being an artist. Artists are asked to perform to public notions of what art is, or can be, or should be. Metz is concerned with this classical mess—he knows the history of art, and performs to it. He has studied the opinions of academics and philosophers and he responds to their ideas, their timelines, and their strange notions. It is difficult for me to look at this exhibition without thinking back to the interviews I have read with Metz, and the thoughts he has shared about the underlying academic constructs of his practice. He is making art that challenges the tropes of art history, but that also continues them by acknowledging their validity. This exhibition feels so right now because it feels so much more like an art exhibition than an authentic human experience. If I knew nothing about art history, and had no experience with art, it would alienate me. Feeling challenged is good. Feeling angry is good. But this exhibition left me feeling a little like I was walking in on the tail end of an inside joke. I can tell it is clever, I am just not sure it has anything to with me. Feels So Right Now at von Bartha Basel runs through 21 July 2018.
Featured image: Landon Metz - Untitled, 2018, Pigmented acrylic, resin and mineral aggregate, 16 x 1011 x 491 cm. Photo courtesy von Bartha
By Phillip Barcio
