-The Pale Memory of Man
Daily Serving
Jesse Bercowetz has a huge mobile on display at The Happy Lion in Chinatown. His solo exhibition, which is the New York artist's first on the West Coast runs until October 11th, flaunts several works, but the luminary piece-- and the real reason for going-- is the behemoth, nearly room-sized installation entitled The Pale Memory of Man. The roomy gallery space, usually noted for its high ceilings and the natural light that bounces off the white walls, is shown no mercy by The Pale Memory of Man. The over sized mixed media mobile looks like something that Tim Burton would create for one of his sets, and the ramshackle construction rivals that of a child's fort. However, once the casual onlooker absorbs the grandiose scale of the piece, a more engrossed observation will reveal the many intriguing idiosyncrasies of this mysterious black contraption of scavenged wood, polystyrene, plaster, glass, electric fans, foam core, paint, and capriciously hanging photos and notes. For one thing, the shape of this particular mobile is less hanging-above-a-baby's-bed and more springing violently from the framework of an oil derrick. Aside from the obvious, and timely, conversation about oil and energy consumption, the interesting juxtaposition for me is the implied permanence that the oil derrick represents in general, as compared with the seemingly intentional shoddiness of the construction of the piece.