Ori Gersht: Cells @CRG

JTF (just the facts): A total of 15 large scale color photographs and 1 video installation, framed in white and unmatted, and hung against white walls in the front, middle, and side galleries, with a curtained off viewing room in the back for the video. All of the photographs are c-prints mounted on dibond, made in 2013. Sizes range from 48x47 to 60x68 (or reverse) and all of the prints are available in editions of 8+2AP. The video is a three screen HD video projection with media players, made in 2012, also available in an edition of 8+2AP. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Following up on his recent series of energetic exploding flowers, this show of new work finds Ori Gersht moving in several different directions simultaneously. It mixes almost scientific abstraction with more traditional images of the geometric space of bull pens, paired with a three channel video installation that traces the methodical preparations and movements of a Spanish bullfighter. Thematically, they all fit together into one interconnected impression, but individually, they are quite visually and emotionally distinct.

The best works in the show are the red circular abstractions made by adding drops of red blood to pools of white milk. Up close, the splashes of red are fascinatingly veined and organic, slowly turning from almost black in the center to filigrees of disappearing pink at the edges; they wave and stretch and dissolve with thick pulsating richness. When placed in the context of Jewish traditions and the prohibition against mixing these two, the works take on an overtly transgressive, almost creepy, tone. They're stop motion Harold Edgerton meets taboo testing Andres Serrano, with compositional help from Ken Noland.

The second series of photographs on view documents the interior spaces of the empty holding pens at the bull ring. The rough wood doors are scarred and scraped and the white cells are muddied by hoof prints and dirty brushing flanks. The photographs are rigidly geometric, turning doorways into flat rectangles (almost like Sean Scully paintings) and cells into corner bisected triangles. They balance absent violence with aesthetic simplicity, the spaces steeped in their function even when quiet and empty. The video amplifies this meditative quality, following the matador as he slowly and deliberately dons his grandly embroidered costume, elegantly meets the bull in the dusty cloud of the ring, and then returns to undress with the same reverence and grace. Flanked by slow moving fragments of royal portrait paintings on the side screens, the video emphasizes the thoughtfulness of the ritual, and its measured, respectful application.

When seen in the company of these reverential views of bullfighting, the milk and blood abstractions seem even more profane and unexpected; they bring us back to the gore that is left out of Gersht's gestural dance in the ring. In many ways, the cell pictures and matador video are a well matched supporting cast to drive home the surprising vulgarity of the abstract blood drops. Without their context, we might just see bright red swirling vortex circles, and miss the underlying ceremony of blood letting.

Collector's POV: The prints in the show are priced at either $20000 (Love Me Love Me Not blood series) or $22000 (Cells series). Gersht's work has only been intermittently available in the secondary markets in recent years. Prices for the few lots that have sold at auction have ranged between $3000 and $20000.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Exhibit: Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 2012 (here)

Ori Gersht: Cells

Through June 15th

CRG Gallery
548 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011

Ori Gersht: Falling Petals @CRG

JTF (just the facts): A total of 13 large scale color works and 1 video installation, alternately framed in white or black and not matted, and hung in the main gallery space (with a closed off viewing room in the back for the video). All of the works (both single images and diptychs) are either archival pigment prints or c-prints mounted on dibond, ranging in size from 14x16 to 51x80. The works were made in 2010, and have generally been printed in editions of 8 (there are 3 works printed in editions of 6). The video is a dual channel HD video projection with sound, made in 2011. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: My first reaction upon walking into Ori Gersht's new show was that Japanese cherry blossoms have to be one of the most classic and therefore overdone subjects that an artist might tackle. Not only is there the backdrop of centuries of Japanese art depicting these specific trees in bloom, but plenty of famous photographers have more recently brought their own unique perspectives to the blush of pale pink in springtime. Whether the angle is the renewal of life and the turning of the seasons or the fragility and grace of the flowers and their symbolism of innocence and natural beauty, this is subject matter that has been discovered over and over again, perhaps not exhausted, but certainly not unexplored.

Gersht's images of the trees in bloom are surprisingly dark and almost sinister. Taken at night, they have a peculiar glow, where the light catches the petals against a muted, enveloping evening. Up close, many are turned into distorted impressionistic clusters of pink and blue dots, where pixelated texture breaks the image down into tactile gestures. Wider landscapes have familiar compositional hallmarks (a tree branch or gnarled trunk isolated for effect), and yet the scenes seem almost nightmarish in their otherworldly flash lit silence; nearby, swaths of floating petals covering the water become nearly abstract. In all the images, simple ephemeral beauty has been found to have an ominous almost desperate side hiding underneath.

Without the knowledge of the backstory provided by the press release, I would never have known that Gersht was influenced by the trees' symbolism for kamikaze pilots from World War II, or by the location of some of the specimens in Hiroshima's irradiated soil. Given these narrative hooks, the menacing quality which has been drawn out starts to make more sense. While the surreal mood (and coloration) is obvious, I doubt that one could discern the military connections without some help. That said, and although not every image is startlingly memorable, Gersht has successfully infused this subject matter with a more complex set of emotions than is normally associated with the cliche of lovely spring flowers.
.

Collector's POV: The single image prints in the show are priced between $8500 and $25000, with the largest of the diptychs slightly higher at $30000. Gersht's work is not consistently available in the secondary markets; prices for the few lots that have sold at auction in recent years have ranged between $3000 and $17000. As such, gallery retail is likely the best option for interested collectors at this point.
.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
.

Transit Hub:

• Review: TimeOut New York (here)
• Exhibit: Santa Barbara Museum of Art (here)

Ori Gersht: Falling Petals

Through June 24th

CRG Gallery
548 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011