Review: Overtime: The Art of Work

Abstract

Overtime: The Art of ALBRIGHT-KNOX ART GALLERY BUFFALO MARCH 8-MAY 17, 2015 Work is ... that incredibly rare subject with universal recognition, if not appeal. --Cathleen Chaffee (1) Overtime: The Art of Work, recent exhibition Albright-Knox Art Gallery Buffalo, explored representation of workers and labor conditions from late eighteenth century into early twenty-first century. Much cannier than survey, curator Cathleen Chaffee's exhibition Integrated contemporary modes of video and installation with more traditional representational strategies. The exhibition Invited viewers to consider ways which artists have engaged and addressed the labor of others by gathering range of images of workers and displaying them groupings that illustrate both breadth and similarity across time and prompt connections between very different art and artists. (2) Chaffee arranged to have free admission every Sunday for length of exhibition in honor of hardworking people of Western New York. This generosity was evidence throughout exhibition: space given to each artwork, absence of lengthy wall text, and In two free handouts that accompanied show--Chaffee's newsprint guide and Fred Lonidier's poster. Approaching second floor entrance to exhibition, I was intrigued by sound of mechanized rhythm that wafted down stairs. It was clear that something was at upstairs. The regularity of sound echoed Sol LeWitt drawing that adorns walls of staircase as part of permanent collection (Wall Drawing #1268: Scribbles: Staircase (AKAG) [conceived 2006; executed 2010]). Arriving top of stairs, I found that thousands of hand-drawn lines made by crew of sixteen artists for LeWitt were reflected Agnieszka Kurant's Untitled (2014)--a sculptural piece composed of moving life-size conveyor belt that emerges from large mirrored box, creating an infinite loop untouched by human hands. A bold introduction, piece stood on edge of exhibition, serving as preface, inviting viewer into space for contemplation of work as a subject that is also structure, to use Chaffee's words from her catalog essay. (3) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Kurant's Untitled also activated series of questions: Where are workers? Where have workers gone? Have machines and automation replaced them? Chaffee's answer is No--workers have been spread out all over globe. In contrast to this staging of spectral absence of workers, rest of exhibition presented surfeit of images of workers, from Germany to China, from New York City to Japan. In newsprint exhibition guide that was offered free to visitors, Chaffee suggested that Kurant's piece engages and implicates viewers by allowing us to see ourselves participating scene of continuous production and circulation that sculpture emulates. On my visits, I watched as most museumgoers studiously avoided being caught and reflected by mirrors of piece. But this opening nevertheless worked to draw visitors into dynamic structure of observation and reflection. Throughout rest of exhibition, we saw workers--embodied, abstracted, photographed, filmed, painted, and drawn. The museum became place of critical encounter with images of workers motion and standing still, observed, interrupted, and interviewed. For compact show--one large room and four offshoots with overflow into great hall space and stairwell--there were surprising number of artists (thirty total). The works ran gamut from institutional critique, video installation, documentation of performance (Tehching Hsieh's One Year Performance 1980-1981), and an early example of social practice (Mierle Laderman Ukeles's Touch Sanitation from 1977-80), to painting (Berthe Morisot's Femme Cousant [Woman Sewing] from c. …