Fringe, Reviewed: Untitled: What You See or What Do You See
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
"It's fun to have the hack poet in us all summoned to the surface."
[ interactive art ]
Untitled: What You See or What Do You See by Krie Alden
Attended: Saturday, Sept. 6, 6 p.m., Da Vinci Art Alliance; closes Sept. 20
This show focuses on the relationship between the art and the viewer's perspective—specifically hearing and seeing the viewer's perspective and the amalgamation of that perspective to create another work of art.
WE THINK:
The lively, hospitable and Yelawolf loving (upon our arrival, she delivered a treatise to my friend and I on Yelawolf's fall from grace due to his association with Kid Rock, and then hilariously played Yela's Kid Rock collaboration, "Let's Roll," throughout the small gallery space on loop for the whole night. She even danced to it using a couple of hula-hoops in what she jokingly – I think – called a performance piece), Krie Alden is the artist behind Untitled: What You See or What Do You See.
The premise is simple: Abstract expressionism leaves a nearly infinite possibility of interpretation for the viewer of the painting, and a great deal of that potential can be taken away when the artist names the piece. So, Alden leaves her pieces untitled, and encourages her audience to become active in expressing how the painting should be interpreted by "tagging shit," i.e. leaving a little card, on which is written one's reaction/title, hung up next to the many paintings on display.
It's an interesting experience if you find Alden's work compelling (I personally gravitated toward some of her less busy compositions), but even when one finds the work lacking, it's fun to have the hack poet in us all summoned to the surface in a relaxed come and go as you please atmosphere. I tagged five pieces with the following titles: "Melted Matisse," "Gyre," "Happiness is a Warm Gun," "Tokyo Girl – Taken 1 p.m. in the year 2086," and "Simple Arrivals." Only two of those titles bring me any pleasure the morning after, only one of which I can claim as my own.
As one young lady put it while standing in front of one of the larger paintings: "I feel like I'm on the verge of something, but I can't quite get it out." Good luck topping her.
