Mark Flood -' American Buffet Upgrade' @ Modern Art

Contemporary and Old Art Reviews

Mark Flood -' American Buffet Upgrade' @ Modern Art

Postby CAP » Sun Oct 25, 2015 10:52 am

12 October - 14 November

Flood at Shav’s: what are we to make of this? It’s his second outing here actually. Flood is mostly known for his politically astute text pieces alternating with essentially a decorative sensibility that toys with digital compression, stencils derived from old shawls and other domestic coverings with long tasselled edges, usually more at home with 3-D construction and an installation format. The stuff is slick and the texts fun, but it soon feels all a bit distant and designerish – more an exercise in art direction than art. If you didn’t know about Mark, you’d assume it was the work of a thirty-something from one of the big art colleges – but Flood is a Texan who spent twenty odd years pretty much in the wilderness (well, Texas) to suddenly emerge half a dozen years ago as a fifty-something post modern maverick and right-on dude. You have to like that about him, but I think this stuff actually looks better on the screen than face to face.

It’s interesting to compare the Modern Art show with Heimo Zobernig @ Simon Lee – much the same vintage and aesthetic except that the trendy Austrian has been on the radar since the 90s, when he showed at Documenta 10 and concentrated on interior decorating – oops! I mean installations – but now swings the production line around to something like wonky abstract mosaics. Couldn’t really get into this one either – all a bit too slick and shallow – but hey looks good on you Heimo! :twisted:
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