Hot & Cold: The End is Here
by Brian Andrews
Baer Ridgway Exhibitions
The relationship between an exhibition and its catalog is always a tenuous one. Much of the art is distorted in the translation to a new medium. Similar to the metamorphosis of literature into film, new insights are gained at the expense of the raw experience of the original artwork. "Hot & Cold: The End is Here," a group show at Baer Ridgway Exhibitions inverts this flow, curating a live exhibition based on the local art zine Hot & Cold. Developed by Chris Duncan and Griffin McPartland, Hot & Cold has always been a terminal project, counting down 10 issues to its final Issue #1, the nexus for this exhibition.
Flipping through the pages of an issue of Hot & Cold is uniquely compelling. It has no standard structure. Each copy is a hand-bound assemblage of media from silkscreen to appliqué to photocopies, often in conjunction with time-based media such as vinyl or performance. Duncan and McPartland's editorial approach is essentially as a Fluxus piece; its meaning to be evoked by experiencing the cocktail of media in one fluid exchange. The installation at Baer Ridgway is derived from this playfulness. Drawing from an A-list of artists with Bay Area roots, including Amy Franceschini, Mads Lynnerup, and Brion Nuda Rosch, the exhibition is deftly curated. Most notable are Jay Nelson's supple drawing The Good Bye Ranch (2007-09), and Tammy Ray Carland's erotically underplayed photograph Hers and Hers. Yet despite all this quality artwork, something is inevitably lost in translation. The personal experience of navigating the zine, which is at the root of Hot & Cold's success, slips away into din of another group show.
2nd Look - Hot and Cold: The End is Here
by Dina Pugh
Baer Ridgway Exhibitions
Chris Duncan & Griffin McPartland. Hot and Cold Issue #1, 2009; mixed media.
Hot & Cold co-creators Chris Duncan and Griffin McPartland explain the zine's concept as such: "usually zines go downhill the longer they are produced, so we plan(ned) to do the opposite by starting with issue ten and get better and better as we count down to one." Seven years on, that day has arrived. Issue #1 is their most ambitious project to date, its launch coinciding with a show at Baer Ridgeway.
In the exhibition's poster, protest signs declaring "The End is Here" echo the more political artworks in the show. Pieces by Michael Arcega, Ryan Wallace, Reed Anderson, and Mads Lynnerup speak to the great heights of excess and recession we have recently witnessed. As a counterpoint, Michelle Blade's watercolor homage to poet Ranier Maria Rilke offers inspiration to look inward and keep creating, even through hard times.
As one of Rilke's letters reminds us, "Art too is just a way of living..." The final Hot & Cold project takes this idea to heart. A map by Ribbons producer David Wilson inserted in the zine led viewers out of the gallery space and to a well-hidden grove in the Richmond hills. There, Wilson and conspirators constructed a massive fort out of twigs and brush. Swings, ditches, and mild interventions were inserted into the landscape where the public was invited to play, potluck, and enjoy live music on a recent Sunday.
In the end, Hot & Cold is about creating a community of makers. With the art world rapidly globalizing, far-flung artists are able to form bonds and influence one another through various webs of interaction. I thank the creators of Hot & Cold for seven years of keeping these points of connection authentic and varied.
"Hot & Cold: The End is Here" will be on view at Baer Ridgway Exhibitions in San Francisco through October 17, 2009.
