Peter Dudek at Smack Mellon

By Lauren Rice



New Monuments to My Love Life


As a formal artist, I am constantly asking myself how to imbue my collage ideas with a clear content beyond my formal interests. It appears that Brooklyn artist Peter Dudek is concerned with the same question(s). His installation at Smack Mellon is a constantly changing conglomeration of corrugated cardboard, felt, wooden tables and plastic school chairs among other things. The colors and shapes are all carefully considered and organized accordingly, strangely reminiscent of retail stores, specifically West Elm, Ikea or other aesthetically pleasing yet affordable furniture retailers. Unlike, West Elm, however, I am not sure what to focus on in Dudek assemblages. In other words, as the viewer/consumer, I am not sure what to buy. Once I focus on a piece of the installation, I realize that it is merely a mass of felt, or a cardboard fixture (which I know from personal experience is not technically easy to make), or a found piece of wood, surely not commodities that I can take home and actually use. But he sure makes it all look so pretty!

I am presuming that this is part of Dudek’s point, despite his artist statement which primarily (ok only) focuses on the formal qualities and decisions in his work. Perhaps he really is only interested in the formal decisions that he makes, although I find this doubtful. And I understand his reluctance to dictate what his work is about; I do the same thing. But surely this is about more than “a rambling and discursive junction where Modern architecture, Design, and modes of presentation intermix”?

Another aspect of Dudek’s work that interests me is that he continues to rearrange the pieces of his installation throughout the span of the exhibition. Again, I can identify with this process. Collage allows me the freedom to rearrange without the mess of painting. However, this can also be a horrible dilemma. I never have to glue; I can rearrange forever! And what do I have? A lot of scrapes of paper. I like that Dudek has made constant rearranging part of his process, yet I wonder if he could benefit from using (metaphorical) glue. What would happen should he add a permanent object and have to respond to it by only adding additional elements? What would happen if he decided he did not like that permanent fixture and responded by destroying it?

Needless to say, I am intrigued by Dudek’s installation and am interested in seeing how his work will grow and change.

Plaid by Elana Herzog at Smack Mellon

By Zac Willis





Elana Herzog’s work entitled Plaid is showing at the Smack Mellon Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. The show also includes Peter Dudek. When you enter the gallery you must pass through Dudek’s work to get to Herzog’s work. The gallery is divided in two parts to accommodate each of the artists. Once you reach Herzog’s work you encounter areas with organic shapes and forms that are comprised of fabric and staples. They are positioned in different locations throughout the room. It was not until I moved closer to the pieces that I realized what they consisted of. Plaid is an installation comprised of several different sizes of this fabric and staples layered on top of one other and then pulled or cut from the wall. What is left is what the artist could not remove. The removal process is important to the piece because it adds certain layer of aesthetic to it. When she staples many times in one place it breaks down the wall and it results in chunks missing from the wall. This shows the destruction of the overlapping process. However, in order to discuss her process, it needs to be clear if she uses an electric or hand powered staple gun. This is very important to in knowing how much Herzog understands the overlapping and layering she is doing. If she used the hand stapler it would demonstrate that she is more consciously aware of where she is putting each staple and understands the relationships formed between the body, staple gun, staple, fabric and the wall. To use a manual staple gun creates a great physical strain on the body. By doing this, there becomes a connection between the body and wall because by stapling it repeatedly, it also experience great strain. This connection would be lost if she just used and electric staple gun. In theory someone could staple 1,000 staples and not even break a sweat. How could she form a connection to the work if she did not physically feel the creation-taking place? When I viewed the space I wondered if it was created for Herzog, or if it was original to the gallery. To describe the space; it was a small square room with white walls. There where platforms that where 3” or 4” off the ground and an awkward half wall with what looked like a non-structural column. The work itself meshed nicely with the awkward walls and columns in the room. The piece seemed too site specific not to have been designed for her. If she did not design it, Herzog controlled the space well using it to her advantage. It was refreshing that she made it seem like she controlled this aspect of the work. With an installation piece like Herzog’s I find it important for the artist to know how much their process of making the work can affect the viewers read of the art.