Bershad show spotlights masters of the modular Visual Arts

by Mary Sherman
Boston Herald, Sunday, December 17, 2000

In the 1950s, we had modular furniture, sectional couches and cubed tables, cabinets and chests that could be endlessly recombined to create different decors.  Now we have modular art.  Or, at least some aspects of that oh-so-'50s notion at Gallery Bershad's modernMODULAR. 

With nearly 100 works, by the gallery's artists, the show is huge. But don't count on many of the pieces being able to be rearranged. 

Most of them conform to the idea of modular merely by being rectangular and somewhat boxy, as with Susan Kriofsky's witty painting "Level II," complete with a level mounted to its frame, Adrian Carrol's painted patterns of concentric circles, or Karen Dow's coolly restrained striped paintings on birch panels. 

In some cases, the work is made up of small components, such as Linn Meyers' ingenuous use of tiny pin pricks on colored paper, or both Ejlat Feuer's and Cheryl Sorg's stunning, multipaneled, color photos. In some instances, there's also a certain mid-century sense of playful optimism as in Linda Price Sneddon's "Entropy Machines," towers of pipe-cleaners, dotted with lights and small fans, a bit like the works of the current art star Sarah Sze.

Some of the best pieces build on the Minimalist aesthetic with clean lines, manufactured parts and geometric forms. Among these are the show's standouts by Andrew Neumann "J.P.L #1 and #2," and his more complicated untitled piece.  "J.P.L #1 and #2" are the more obvious plays on the minimalist favored form, the grid, substituting ventilation covers and fans for abstract, geometric forms.  For the other, wall-mounted piece, Neumann uses camera lenses and video devices to create an elegant, somewhat ironic minimalist riff.

Eric Starosielski, on the other hand, adds a humanistic touch to his elegant "Priorities," two long white rectangles, punctuated by photos of an empty bed, two people in bed, and a handful of others of a person brushing his teeth in the most unlikely places.  Beneath all but the last photos are empty coat hooks.  Beneath the photo of the sleeping pair, a sweater also hangs to complete the work's sculptural and pictorial narrative.

Across town, in the South End, are two other thematic shows, "Something About the Girl" at the Bernard Toale Gallery and "Paper Products" at the Clifford Smith Gallery. Toale has the catchiest title; but Clifford Smith, the smartest invitation, one that is printed on a white paper bag. Both also have engaging work, some of which would be equally at home at Gallery Bershad's show. The most likely candidates for "modernMODULAR" would be Joshua Deaner's series of small black and white pictures, usually of single objects, looking strangely like they were lifted from some haunting film noir, and Chris Komater's "Turner," black and white photos laid out in a grid with each image depicting the same blond tail of hair in different positions. Among the other highlights in the show are Francesca Woodman's staged picture of two women on a beach, and Mardozo's bizarre photos of her aging body, squeezed into preposterous, intriguing masses. Upstairs from Toale at Clifford Smith, paper is the medium of choice, whether it be Saul Chernick's striking, arabesque cut-outs mounted so that they hover a few inches in front of a similar colored sheet of green-gray paper; or Greg Mencoff's smooth hanging pieces, each ringed with a ridge of rice paper as a stunning counterbalance to their seductive form. Also worth mentioning is Seong Chun's somewhat humorous crocheted sentences cut out from the text "Transfigurations of the Commonplace" by the critic-of-the-moment Arthur Danto.

"ModernMODULAR" at Gallery Bershad, Somerville, through Jan. 12; "Something About the Girl" at the Bernard Toale Gallery, through Dec. 23 and "Paper Products" at the Clifford Smith Gallery, through Jan. 13.