~NICHOLAS SULLIVAN, ‘O’ . . CATBOX / w MIKE LINSKIE & PHILIP HINGE side notes / OPENS SUN FEB 4, 3-6 PM
MR. UN-HINGED !!!!!!!!
the race to be the smallest & most inventive . . is on !!
or: the tiny canary that ate, the . . big cat !!
NICHOLAS SULLIVAN . . . O
OPENS TODAY SUN FEB 4 2018 / 3 – 6 PM
the show runs thru MARCH 11, 2018
CATBOX CONTEMPORARY, RIDGEWOOD, N.Y.
contact the gallery for exact address
after the opening reception, viewing is by appointment only
artist PHILIP HINGE . . runs CATBOX CONTEMPORARY.
it seems to have started up, just about this time last year.
“The gallery is located in my cat’s cat-tree in Ridgewood, NY. The unique size circumstances make for some really inventive and exciting shows.”
Mr. Hinge . . appears to be quite the conceptual goth, zany lyricist & way whacky pictorialist, himself. not to forget . . super challenging of convention, by the way !!
It seems only (non)logically right, then, that in his desire to up-end the art world shopping ‘cart’, he would arrive at some kind of very equally zany, provocative, contrarian & absolutely original, self-proclaimed exhibition venue, with which to stake a claim, for his serious, art world ambitions.
the strange part: he seems to be succeeding !!
I saw my first Catbox outing, last weekend . . at ‘The Big Short’, a group show of 9 very very different alternative curatorial projects / presented in the Hunter hunting grounds uptown, by artist curators: EMILY JANOWICK and PATRICK MOHUNDRO.
it sounded kind of iffy on paper, and didn’t really strike me as more than ‘too cute’, upon first sight. but close-up was – the epiphany !!
m-e-o-w.
the artist CATBOX presented, MIKE LINSKIE . . rose to the challenge, with a teeny, tiny one man show that fully celebrated what is not only a micro-space, but . . a curvaceous one, at that !!
the postage stamp size drawings (3 x 3 in.) were a delight, and the magic only kept on growing, in tiny increments . . with the ‘wall-sized’ murals, (watercolor, 11 x 14 in.) the hand-painted hermit crab shell sculptures packed a totemic punch, despite their tiny, DIY ‘beach souvenir’ stance.
totemic . . which also brings up the deeper philosophy of the Catbox – as art venue. under Philip Hinge’s guidance, not only are the artists asked to innovate, and switch up the scale, but ‘meaning’ is just as important, as plasticity, or art for arts sake.
see: MIKE LINSKIE,’Morning Sand’, CATBOX CATELLITE, for ‘The Big Short’ – CATBOX CONTEMPORARY WEBSITE
see: PHILIP HINGE – ARTIST PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
from the gallery press release:
For, O, Sullivan transforms both the upper and lower galleries (!!) into incubators for visual and formal oddities, creating an observed stasis for the characters and objects contained within. His use of familiar objects and pop-icons like Snoopy, the Pink Panther, or a bar of butter allow the viewer to assert their visual and emotional response into the space. An overarching narrative about personal and collective experience is given a coded history through the mixed means of Sullivan’s installation . . . . .
NICHOLAS SULLIVAN, (b. 1987) lives & works in Brooklyn. He is an assistant professor in Studio Foundations at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
see: NICHOLAS SULLIVAN – ARTIST PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
NICHOLAS SULLIVAN, ‘Upsidedown Dog’, 2016.
Steel, Magic Sculpt, flashe
image via: NICHOLAS SULLIVAN WEBSITE