Artist of the Week 06/20/05

It was his duct tape pigeon sculptures (see right) that first got me interested in Kevin Landers' work (apparently he's been making them since his first New York Solo show at David Zwirner Gallery in 1994 [he's now represented by Elizabeth Dee Gallery in Chelsea and Angstrom Gallery in Dallas]), but it's his photography that's perhaps earned him the most critical acclaim.

What William Eggleston is to Memphis, Landers is to Manhattan's Lower East Side, finding seemingly endless interest in the rich texture and absurdity of life and, particularly, commerce there. But more than just clever snapshots of everyday life, Landers' work skewers contemporary art while it documents. Consider this photo of a stuffed drainage grate:


Kevin Landers, untitled (Grate), 2002, C-print, 73 x 99 cm

Cropped to suggest nothing so much as a piece by Andreas Gursky, Lander's "Grate" does double or even triple duty (sending up certain practices in art, documenting the reality of his New York, commenting on consumption). And there's more to the sociological aspect of his work. As Art in America critic Barbara Pollack put it,

For Landers, the American consumer is found on Delancey Street, not browsing at Prada, as he reveals in Untitled (Man with Plaid Cart, New York). This figure, like a Duane Hanson sculpture, is unaware that his cheap brown coat or gaudy shopping cart might be subjects of ridicule. Landers's everyman, like the photographer himself, seems happy to ignore good taste or fashion trends but is willing to stop for a moment for the promise of a photograph.

Kevin Landers, Untitled (Man with Plaid Cart, New York), 2002, C-print, 47" x 31.5"

And although it's not totally clear to me what the exact message is, Landers does seem to attempt some commentary with his choice of materials, reflecting perhaps the potential curing effects of recycling on the chaotic consumerism he sees. From the handmade duct tape pigeons to his wall of handmade felt and plasticine "Sneakers" (another dig at Gursky and at Nike), he's perhaps highlighting the absurdity of what we're willing to pay for brand name goods.


(background) Kevin Landers, Sneakers, 2002, 60 felt and plasticine "shoes", 77" x 138" x 4"

Here's a close-up shot (with the artist). Landers stole the show (for critic Charlie Finch at least) with his sculpture at the most recent Armory Show. As Finch noted: "A few quirky masterpieces emerged from the decorative, photo-dominated heap. Best in show, by far, is Kevin Landers' eye-popping rack of colored bags of "potato chips" -- in fact they're filled with Styrofoam -- from Dallas' Angstrom Gallery, priced at $20,000." Here's an image: