Stuff Seen - Jeanie Riddle

Howdy!




Ungraded, because Jeanie is my friend.

Yet another artist who had a show almost a year to the day after the Concordia thingy at Parisian Laundry last year. I much prefer Ms. Riddle's work this year in comparison to last year's. It might have to do with them being larger, or there being less stuff on each surface, or something else, I'm not certain.



Click here if you'd like to see some of last year's work.



The pastels were very pretty colors, and the high contrast of the stuff stuck on the islands (for lack of a better term) made for a very happy space. I have some other pictures of the dollar store objects Ms. Riddle placed on the islands.



Now, upon thinking a little about it, I do believe that's the reason that I think this one is way better than last year's. Those doo-hickeys bring back some sort of memories of some sort of childhood (in my case the dollar store was called a five and dime). Not quite minimalist, not quite pop, not quite sculpture, it falls between the cracks of any easy definition sort of like when you're taking a nap on a train and you can understand the conversation taking place in the seat's behind you, but you don't want to open your eyes and participate, so you incorporate it into your dream.



I think the bestest part of the exhibit (and remember that Ms. Riddle's shows despite being made up of individual and separate parts are always stronger than the sum of those parts) were the Wiffle Ball wannabes. For the most part Ms. Riddle just places the objects, and in certain cases doesn't even place 'em, just sorta lets them land where they might.



But when she starts using her imagination to combine dollar store objects into "new" things, that's pretty much what I'm looking for in art. "Found Art" is all fine and dandy, and if it is presented well, then so much the better. But there is a limit to how much I can take or stand at one time.