On view this month in New York, the ever-enigmatic Darren Bader has put on a new show of work at Harkawik, continuing his playful repositions and deconstructions of his materials and their cultural assumptions. Continuing his plundering and extraction of the meanings and understandings of the objects he selects and suspends in a constellation of signs and symbols, the show offers a new set of works by the artist.
The result are a series of slippages between the object and the complex series of assembled cultural meanings and backdrops to leave the viewer to negotiate. Equal parts absurd and cryptic, the works force a delving into the artist’s own logic of assemblage, without ever implying that this might even be a workable course of action. Rather than work against this logic, one can allow themselves to float in and out of the artist’s works, allowing the cultural signifiers and constructions to take on their own meanings, or to slowly fade into the ether, a fascinating point that underscores Bader’s ability to pose questions and leave them hanging.
The show closes January 6th.
– D. Creahan
Read more:
Darren Bader: The American Express Holiday Show [Exhibition Site]
