Installation view. Image Courtesy of Antonia Marsh

 

Currently at Adobe Books is “Cold Boy’s Fire/Digital Physical” a two person exhibition by Bryan Morello and Augustus Thompson.  This show was curated by Antonia Marsh, who brings a new refined energy into the gallery through this show. “Cold Boy’s Fire/Digital Physical” is contributing a new aesthetic to the gallery’s current programming bringing contemporary works that incorporate alternative methods.  It is a refreshing exhibition that has two emerging artists you seldom get to see on view in the Bay Area.

 

Installation view. Image Courtesy of Antonia Marsh

Bryan Morello detail image. Image Courtesy of Antonia Marsh

Bryan Morello detail image. Image Courtesy of Antonia Marsh

 

This exhibition is a reformulation of past shows that each artist has participated in recently.   Bryan Morello was recently on view in “ALTAR”, an exhibition curated by Anastasja Robinson and Nikki Mirsaeid, in San Francisco.  He exhibited a sculptural assemblage, which was displayed in a church directly in front of a massive statue of Christ crucified on a cross.  It was a very awkward yet amazing juxtaposition between the two.  Later  that month Morello did a performance where he recited some of his writing while laying out on a make shift stage using armatures from furniture you would buy at IKEA.  His installation at Adobe books merges these two pieces redefining the works into a new reiteration of what was on view at ALTAR.  At Adobe Books Morello used drywall and 2”x4”s to erect a backdrop that looked similar to a room under construction.  He then pasted prints that included the words from his performance at ALTAR.  Objects from his assemblage at ALTAR were incorporated into the installation, giving them a new defined space to operate within.  The way Morello merged his past works into a new reiteration is successful and contains a quality is quiet and sincere.

 

 

Augustus Thompson installation view. Image Courtesy of Antonia Marsh

Augustus Thompson. Image Courtesy of Antonia Marsh

Augustus Thompson. Image Courtesy of Antonia Marsh

 

Augustus Thompson recently was on view in New York for his exhibition, “Digital/Physical”. Thompson considers himself to be an artist who takes on the role of an organizer and collagist.  Thompson incorporates his mediated outlook on the cultural information around us within his work to create dialogues about the idea of self.  He is constantly sourcing his materials form the digital realm of social media feeds, music videos, texts, and more for his printed works, which can be seen at Adobe Books.  Thompson, unlike Morello took similar prints from his New York exhibition and hung them in Adobe Books, without an obvious shift in their materiality or objectivity in the space.  Some may think that this is a simple and unmediated gesture, and possibly “the easy way out”, but in retrospect his show in New York was much more grand in scale when compared to Adobe Books’ 100 square foot gallery.  Allowing the work to exist in a new space harvests unexpected dialogues bringing forward new experiences for the prints.  The prints on view are from the same series of “Digital/Physical” but made with the intentions of being paired with Morello’s work.  It is a successful moment when seeing the works side by side, complementing each other in Adobe Book’s backroom gallery.

 

This exhibition will close March 31st, 2013 so find time to go by Adobe Books see some work and pick up a new read while your there.  Be sure to follow the curatorial efforts of Antonia Marsh, a writer and independent curator from London, currently completing a Masters in Curatorial Practice in California College of the Arts.  For more information please visit here.

 

-Contributed by Gregory Ito