Now open at MetaLES, organized by Ux Hax, Lanjran Choche and Romy Nayar, is ...A Bit of Red... by Kicca Igaly and Nessuno Myoo. A tribute to The Phantom of the Opera, authored in 1909/10 by Gaston Leroux and later popularized by a 1925 film starring Lon Chaney and the more recent musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the minimally illuminated installation stands aloft on a large platform of interlocking blocks.
Those familiar with the story will immediately recognize iconic elements spread here and there throughout the installation: the opera house with stage and seats for the audience, a cage, a wild looking pipe organ with the phantom's mask set on top, and so on. In the center, raised on a circular platform, stand the phantom and his unrequited love, Christine, the entire setting gently basked by devices suggestive of theatrical ghost lights.
Scattered paper notes, marked by roses, relay moments of the story to us as we wander. Descending beneath the platform are a couple of large tunnels (explorers might easily fall into them) that simply lead back toward the black sea underneath. But despite the clearly careful work by the artists, I found ...A Bit of Red... less compelling than the the several previous (and excellent) exhibitions at MetaLES or solo efforts by Nessuno. The installation will remain on display through October 21.
No comments:
Post a Comment