By: Sascha Crasnow
Ellen Driscoll, Water’s Edge, 2008, ink on paper, 40 x 89 inches. Photograph by Curtis Hamilton. Courtesy of the artist and Frederieke Taylor Gallery, NYC.
Ellen Driscoll’s first solo show at Frederieke Taylor gallery, “FASTFORWARDFOSSIL: Part I,” envisions an alternate world. The exhibition consists of a number of ink drawings on paper as well as a sculpture made entirely from plastic milk jugs and water bottles that bring this world to life. The press release describes Driscoll’s work as a depiction of “an apocalyptical future where a refugee camp is pitched atop a water tower and a North Sea oil rig shares the horizon with wildfires and garbage heaps” where “a McMansion development becomes a slum, while an encampment receives the water of a melting glacier and a power plant spills beyond its boundaries to infiltrate a shopping mall.”
It doesn’t take much to immediately see the possibility of our own future in this world. Granted, given the recent events involving individuals such as Bernie Madoff and the executives at AIG, seeing a wealthy area turn into a dump might give some people a feeling of vindication. However, the “populist cheer” will end there. The world Driscoll envisions is one so terrible, it appears devoid of all human life. Her ink drawings depict different views or scenes from this dismal world. The only indications that the land is populated are the few smoke stacks on the roofs of the buildings that occupy some of her drawings. There are in fact, no life forms visible at all in the works other than seven black birds which pepper the sky of one drawing, grouped together menacingly, scavengers of the desolate landscape below. The barren landscape is icy and seems as if it never warms. The tents that make up the refugee camp, illustrated in another of her drawings, don’t seem like they would be able to protect against the elements. The doom and gloom of the images is accentuated by the use of neutral-colored inks that spread across the paper of all of her drawings like toxic spills.
Ellen Driscoll, “FastForwardFossil, Part 1”, (detail), #2 Harvested Plastic, 5’7” x 18’ x 9’6.” Photograph by Curtis Hamilton. Courtesy of the artist and Frederieke Taylor Gallery, NYC.
The eeriness of the ink drawings carries over into the sculptural representation of this world. Some of the buildings are flipped or collapsed; trees are toppled over. This is a land of destruction. There are empty cage-like structures that leave the viewer wondering what they held. A fenced area with a tall guard tower looks like a cross between a prison and an internment camp. The landscape, made entirely of plastic milk jugs and water bottles, appears to be made of the materials of its own destruction. Immediately, I felt immense guilt about the plastic water bottle I was carting around in my bag (the guilt increased as I noticed that some of the water bottle pieces used in the sculpture still had their Poland Spring labels attached). Particularly within the context of Earth Day and the ubiquity of the “Go Green” movement, Driscoll’s sculpture seems to be showing us our future if we continue along the path of plastic bottles and SUVs. Beyond this, the sculpture is so intricately detailed that it seems hard to believe that it is made of waste (the piece was fabricated by Franz Mayer in Munich, Germany). Complementing the ink drawings, the sculptural landscape gives a greater tangibility to the world Driscoll has created, enhancing its full impact.
Driscoll’s work forces viewers to take a good look at the future we’re creating. Without preaching, it presents a fictional dystopian world, allowing us to make of it what we will. Both beautiful and poignant this is a show definitely worth seeing. Just make sure to leave your plastic bottles at home.
“Ellen Driscoll, FASTFORWARDFOSSIL: Part I” at Frederieke Taylor gallery runs through May 16th
Frederieke Taylor gallery
Take the C or E train to
Gallery hours: Tues to Sat 11:00am to 6:00pm
Gallery website: http://www.frederieketaylorgallery.com/
Artist website: http://www.ellendriscoll.net/
Excellent shoes. The video really shows the proper way to walk in the MBTs. I can already feel myself not slouching as I walk.
Posted by: Mbts | April 14, 2011 at 02:49 AM