With their recent gallery, "Remix: The Collection at the Albright Knox Art Gallery," the Knox has upped the freshness factor and rearranged their collection, throwing more conventional art rules to the wind.
The second level of the gallery is essentially where the main focus of the Remix is located, filled with bright and colorful pieces that join the classics and the contemporary pieces.
The first image that gallery-goers are greeted with is Jackson Pollock's 1952 "Convergence," a massive oil canvas in his traditional splatter style. Bright yellow, red, blue, white, black and a single matchstick mesh in a hodgepodge of images.
Rachel Lachowicz's small bright red "Untitled," is set off to a small corner, but catches attention from across the room. It is almost instantly clear that something is different about this painting. "Untitled" was done on traditional canvas, but in lipstick.
Sue Williams' "Blue Foot, Red Shoe" is disturbing yet captivating, featuring various distorted human body parts and images in bright greens, yellows, reds and blues on a crisp white background.
James Turrell's light installation piece "Gap" from the "Tiny Town" series was by far the most innovative in the Remix collection. Viewers enter into a darkened hallway, then into a dimly lit room with a blue screen that is seemingly projected onto the wall. Upon closer inspection, one realizes that Turrell has created an optical illusion, and the blue screen image is a window into a small, white room containing blue lights set underneath the windowsill. Patrons reach out to touch the screen and falter, and it seems that human folly may be Turrell's real art form.
Ben Wroblewski, an artist from Newfane, NY, visited the Remix collection on the opening day. Standing before Georgia O'Keeffe's "Green Patio Door," he began to wax poetic.
"It looks more abstract to me than a door on the side of a building," Wroblewski said. "It looks more like a place of comfort in the middle of a barren desert. It reminds me of how Earth is an oasis in the barren wasteland of space."
Pol Buryl's "Nine Balls on Five Planes" can be found in Remix's "Group Zero" room. At first glance it appears somewhat boring, until a faint creaking starts and the nine wooden balls on Bury's platform begin moving back and forth or spinning, representing planets.
In the same "Group Zero" room, Heinz Macki's "Simona" stands tall in its simplistic structure. "Simona" is a tower around nine feet high, made up of clear plastic and lenses giving the viewer another perspective to look through.
The largest display by far is Robert Therrien's "No Title," which features a set of four aluminum chairs and an aluminum card table. This display is astounding for its sheer size. The chairs stand at their highest point around 10 feet high, and the table around eight feet high, giving patrons the view from a dog's perspective.
Therrien creates three-dimensional types of artwork. Inspired by his photography, he uses it as a basis for what he wants to create or design. His work has been featured in Spain and at the White House.
Therrien uses metals such as aluminum or steel as well as mixed media. He creates a spiral display, using 15 single beds and a sculpture called "Cups and Plates from the Mad Hatter."
"When rounding it, it actually makes you dizzy," said Mike Durkee, a U.S. Security guard for the Albright Knox.
John Pfahl's set of four chromogenic color prints entitled "View From the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit," individually numbered from one to four, are heart wrenching.
The piece represents life seen through the small-blinded window of a hospital room, causing silence and awe in patrons who can't seem to look away.
Among all of these obscure and eclectic art pieces, Henri Matisse's "La Musique" and Jehan Georges Vibert's "The Marvelous Sauce," both part of the gallery's older collection, seem intentionally tucked away.
Matisse's classic "La Musique" oil on canvas features two black-haired women relaxing, one playing a guitar, in bright colors.
"The Marvelous Sauce," oil on wood panel, is a breathtaking piece because of the vibrancy and clarity. The portrait shows a cook and a religious officiate tasting from a saucepan in a kitchen. It is amazing that this work has stood the test of time and kept its luster.
Both "La Musique" and "The Marvelous Sauce" are visually striking, perhaps even more so because they are set away from the pack.
"Remix: The Collection" provides an in-depth look into a variety of art forms, and it does so with a flair that only the Albright Knox can achieve. "Remix: The Collection" will be at the Albright Knox Art Gallery on Elmwood Ave. until April 15, 2007.
