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January 1, 2006 A zealous janitor =
at the
=
Keep
that guy away from the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. =
What
looks at first like a mess of crumpled white paper on the floor in the ma=
in
gallery is actually a series of delightful miniature dioramas. If you are
willing to crouch or, better still, lie, on the concrete floor, you will
discover a myriad of tiny but amazingly convincing figures depicting the =
life
of a fictional aboriginal culture. One group chases a herd of goats, read=
y to
hurl spears. Others sit cross-legged around a fire in their caves. Some d=
ance
as a shaman performs a ritual. =
There
are 900 silhouettes in all, arrayed in a landscape of brush, watering hol=
es
and three-dimensional cliffs and caves. Andrew Ross, the inventive artist
behind this installation, did not stint on details either: You can count =
the
feathers in the shaman's headdress. =
Speaking
of feathers, being selected for a one-man show at =
"Andrew
is very mature," she says. "His thinking is unusual for a stude=
nt,
very conceptual. He does his homework, and he is very thorough in his
execution. He's a perfectionist." =
In fact,
the Atlanta College of Art grad's insouciant imagination earned him notice
while he was still an undergrad. Three years ago, he and Scott Lawrence,
members of the collective Dos Pestaneos, amus=
ed
commuters with roadside life-size plywood buffalos. For the collective's =
2004
show at Saltworks, he created a faux natural
history display that included amplified live crickets and a video of what=
looked
to be a bird eating the stars in the sky -- really s=
olarized
seeds on asphalt. =
"Caves,"
which required an X-acto knife and paper from
Office Max, is low-tech in comparison. Ross ascribes his approach to the
famously bitter weather of the =
"I
was looking for something I could do indoors during the winter -- somethi=
ng
small, meticulous and inexpensive that wouldn't keep me running to Home D=
epot,"
he explains. =
Ross
tried to make a mountain out of pieces of origami, but it ended up looking
more like a cave. That struck a chord. He spent six months studying
aboriginal art and artists in =
He did
some ethnological research, poring over pictures of aboriginal life before
embarking on what Joey Orr, who guest-curated=
this
show, calls "creative visual anthropology." =
Chronologically,
"Caves" is the last section of the three-part installation at <=
st1:place
w:st=3D"on"> =
Like the
mini-dioramas, the other two installations exemplify his delight in illus=
ion,
surprise and discovery. The video, an aerial view of a group of leaf worm=
s on
a light box, looks at first glance to be an animated, abstract line drawi=
ng,
which begins as separate marks and coalesces into a circle. The chimp, a =
rare
hairless variety whom Ross photographed at the St. Louis Zoo, seems to be
absorbed in a book when actually he is eating something off a piece of
cardboard. =
But
there's a dogged scientist behind the imp. Ross was a regular at =
The
little figures in "Caves" have an interesting back story, too.
After doing ethnographic research and studying pictures of village life of
various cultures, Ross took digital photos of himself=
and manipulated them on the computer to create the poses he wanted. He ma=
de
line drawings from the photos. =
Ross
first saw the chimp seven years ago and had thought about it ever since. =
The
fact that it is a mutant variant and that its lack of hair exposed its
humanoid musculature made it the perfect choice here. =
The
paper is just as resonant. "I like its relationship to culture as a
vehicle for keeping records and transmitting ideas, but also its
fragility," Ross explains. "I was pretty excited about using a
material that we're almost done with, that's going out of style." In
other words, heading toward extinction. =
When you
think of all the ideas behind "Origin," you could say that this
take on evolution benefits from the artist's intelligent design. =
"Origins."
Through Jan. 14. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. =
"My
Brain's Weight in Bananas," artist talk, 7 p.m., Wednesday. (Recepti=
on:
6:30 p.m.) =
JESSICA McGOWAN / Special =
At the
hands of artist Andrew Ross, a total of 900 silhouettes emerge from crump=
les
of white paper, which has also taken on the shape of a primitive landscap=
e,
with watering holes, cliffs and caves. Every fold, crease and curve of pa=
per
-- best viewed while low to the concrete floor at the Museum of Contempor=
ary
Art of Georgia -- holds a multitude of miniature surprises. =
Photo =
JESSICA McGOWAN / Special =
This
close-up reveals Ross' meticulous craftsmanship and attention to detail.
"Caves" was inspired by the artist's 2004 trip to
Copyright 2006 The=
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