Continuing through December 20, 2013
Kavi Gupta christens its second Chicago location, a cavernous space on Elizabeth Street, with “Apparatus,” Roxy Paine’s first solo exhibition in Chicago featuring his latest artistic venture: large scale dioramas. Here, there are only two. “Carcass” is a bare replica of a fast food restaurant counter, and “Control Room” is a re-creation of what the title suggests, painted with a few shades of gray. Each installation is built into the walls, panes of glass separating the work from the viewers like exhibits in a history museum.
The components of each installation are precisely crafted, a facsimile in wood of a recognizable operational space devoid of functionality, as well as of human presence or activity. Thus, while each space is easily identifiable, these are by no means simulacra. Divested of their levers, telephone receivers, coffee pots and drinking straw dispensers, the scenes become exquisite formal objects - crisp, untouched and coldly beautiful.
