“Strip.”
Whether interpreted as a command or a description, the word is charged. It can bring to mind the adventure of comic strips or the risky nature of strip poker. The latest exhibit at Postcrypt Gallery, the “Strip Show,” curated by Julia Burgi, BC ’11, and located in the basement of St. Paul’s Chapel, plays off these possibilities.
According to co-curator Alexandra Werner-Winslow, BC ’12, the current show focuses on two aspects of the word “strip:” its cartoon aspect, which is highly dependent on seriality and repetition, and its clothing aspect. Unfortunately, these ideas are more apparent in the curators’ comments than on the gallery walls.
Only two works in the show interpret the risky sexual meaning of the word. “Girls, Girls, Girls” by Chelsea Small, BC ’11, is a mixed media piece, incorporating ink, charcoal, and different types of paper to evoke a scene of sex and violence.
On the opposite wall are two prints depicting burlesque females in sensual poses by GS senior Ken Hill. The prints are painted over in bright pinks and highlighted in black and purple. The women appear to be emanating rays of light or perhaps fire. While it isn’t as bold as Small’s piece, the work is equally passionate.
Despite these two outliers, repetition is a predominant theme in the show. The series of photos by Ian Kwok, CC ’11 and former A&E photo deputy, are like photographic flipbooks. Carefully framed, the pictures deconstruct a few seconds in time and make a simple, fluid action appear abrupt. In one set, a girl’s steady concentration in a museum appears disrupted by the movements of the security guard in the corner of the room.
The most compelling work in the show, is entitled “Found Piece,” as it was literally found one night on a train, is a series of five digital contact sheets showing thumbnails of a young man with Down syndrome. The images, many of which seem to be taken one right after another, show the boy in various domestic scenes—sitting at his computer, posing with a necklace, and standing in front of a mirror.
The piece is the boldest interpretation of “strip,” as it is has aspects of repetition, sequence, and narrative while also seeming to reveal something deeper than the boy’s daily actions. There is a sense of loneliness and captivity as the boy’s life is confined to his house and also within the borders of the thumbnails.
Other works, however, do not fit as appropriately with the theme. “The Mobius Strip,” by Betsy Carroll, CC ’11, a mixed-media piece including a wire construction and several sketches, relates to the exhibit’s motif but remains outside the context of the other works. While interesting, it presents a physical recreation and interpretation of a strip, unlike the other works that are more superficial. The series of Polariod photos by Jessica Epstein, BC ’11, are entirely unrelated—they have no sense of repetition or sequence.
As a whole, the exhibit comes across as flat and uninspired. None of the adventurous potential of the “strip” theme can be felt in the space or the artwork within it. Even the inclusion of a “Create Your Own Strip Wall,” designed by Burgi as “a way for the audience to more actively engage with the theme of the show,” gives way to doodles—not strip-related art. As the show contains little work of interest, perhaps the sense of its “strip” motif that best comes to mind is stripped bare.
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