Above: Megan Mueller, 534 S Broadway, 2021, Multiples, Angel Gate Cultural Center, Photo courtesy of the gallery.
By Genie Davis | artandcakela | September 28, 2021
If the expression “double the pleasure, double the fun” applies for more than an infamous Wrigley’s Gum commercial, then this group show of more than double repetition fits it well.
There is both pleasure and puzzlement in Multiples, now at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro through September 12th. Artists Nathan Gulick, Colleen Hargaden, Seth Lower, Megan Mueller, Samuel Scharf, Noah Spindler, Katie Thoma, and Katya Usvitsky each create a connected series of work which is designed to use repetition in an examination of “sincerity” in art. The exhibition includes an essay by Hannah Sage Kay.
Katya Usvitsky’s highly tactile, fabric-based sculptures, which utilize nylon, fiberfill, and in some instances, welded wire, are visually exciting regardless of their multiplicity. Resembling a configuration of eggs from alien species or piles of soft stones, she creates a womb-like iteration in “Mama;” a fetal-like shape in “Daughter.” Her less defined structure of a “Cave” pairs with the fully formed hive/cocoon of “Home.” Blazing red is “Shameful Act No. 1,” with its evocation of the sensual and of ripened fruit.