On a rainy Saturday night, I made my way over to David Kordansky’s new space in Culver City, where I was able to spend time with the work of Patrick Hill — a personal favorite of mine. These days I find myself searching for sculpture that contemplates being sculptural, work that is straightforward, no tongue in cheek slyness — art that both artist and viewer can enjoy.
Formal decisions drive Hill’s work, and the decisions are precise and to the point. A zen-like quality emerges. Hill’s choices in materials are visceral and flirt with fetish: coarse rope binding glass and wood; glass that reflects the viewers gaze; cement slabs placed just so into geometric forms, which cradle the heavy material as if it were an infant.
A slight horror also emerges, the work makes reference to earthquake damage, the cracked cement delivers this reference yet there is a subtle shift that takes place. The quality of arrangement straddles the line between obsessive-compulsive and a breed of Feng Shui. Each materiel and element is perfectly put together and placed. Thinking back there is a part of me that reaches to reference the film American Psycho, while the Angelino in me considers all the Neutra & Schindler’s that would be destroyed by “the Big One” that awaits us Californians.
On a final note, the most striking part of Patrick Hill’s new work is his tango with scale. Since David Kordansky moved into his spacious new turf, each artist in his stable has the possibility to expand in size. In Hill’s case, it was the perfect timing, like a plant that needed room to grow. The work only becomes stronger as it grows in scale & form.
Patrick Hill | February 7 – March 21, 2009 | DAVID KORDANSKY GALLERY | 3143 S. La Cienega Blvd | Los Angeles
IMAGES: Screen, 2009 | wood, glass, concrete, steel, epoxy, dye, ink | 81 x 82 x 108 inches | Courtesy David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | Photography: Fredrik Nilsen
Biter (Chain of Love), 2009 | wood, glass, concrete, steel, ink, epoxy| 108 x 52 x 108 inches | Courtesy David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | Photography: Fredrik Nilsen
