Use of venue key to show itself
In 2012, multimedia artist Anthony Luensman presented the site-specific exhibition “Taint” at the Weston Art Gallery in his hometown of Cincinnati.
Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, he designed a show that aggressively pushed the boundaries of traditional gallery installations.
Instead of just displaying art on walls or pedestals, he embedded pieces in the walls themselves, created sculptural works that interacted with the ceiling and even used the gallery’s utility closet for a stand-alone installation.
For “TAINTvariations,” his latest solo exhibition at Angela Meleca Gallery, Luensman has put his own twist on the concept of a touring show.
The exhibit incorporates photographic, video, sound and sculptural pieces from the Cincinnati show; and adds new and previously unseen works — all tailored to explore the malleability of the host space.
“TAINTvariations” centers on themes of intimacy, voyeurism, lost innocence and the elements of seduction and manipulation that exist in the relationship between an artist and the subject he directs and poses.
With his images of a lithe male model being stretched and twisted in photographic works such as Bird Wings and Candy Necklace Reflects, Luensman applies the prints directly to the glass, blurring the line between photography and sculpture.
Rather than stand alone on a narrow column, sculptural pieces such as the body-hairinspired “dimensional drawing” Stud Finder II reach out to viewers from the walls.
The artist further takes advantage of the gallery’s physical properties by using its large front window for a video projection and by moving its rolling walls to create intimate viewing spaces that can be accessed by only one or a few visitors at a time.
Luensman also uses a narrow room adjacent to the main gallery for the new installation Backyard.
Consisting of a neon tire swing, spiral wire adorned with flowers and a computeraltered soundtrack of a swinging hammock and other noises heard in calming outdoor spaces, the work draws a bit of the suburbs Downtown — but in a way that highlights the scene’s artificiality and emptiness.
“I’m really creating an idyllic backyard space, but it’s not as optimistic as it may seem,” Luensman said.
“There’s no figure in it — just a lost sense of self and of time past.”