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Indepth Arts News:
"Land of Many Uses: Jules de Balincourt"
2003-05-17 until 2003-06-14
LFL Gallery (Lawrence/Feuer/LaMontagne)
New York, NY,
USA United States of America
LFL Gallery is pleased to present "Land of Many Uses", a solo exhibition by artist Jules de Balincourt. de Balincourt will be exhibiting new work, including new or recent sculpture and painting. Taking its name from a Montana camping slogan, this show centers around reworked themes of Manifest Destiny; the new frontiers and current acts of environmental, social and political colonialism and imperialism.
In the sculpture "Global Warming Souvenir", the artist recreates in miniature his old Los Angeles neighborhood, Malibu Lake inside of a large wooden tub. The house- covered valley is bisected by a small stream, but as time passes (approximately 40 minutes) the stream grows and becomes a river, then a lake, and eventually covers most of the minute city.
For "Tree House", the artist worked in collaboration with Johnson Foster and Andy Cross to construct a seventeen-foot tree topped by a large tree house (maximum occupancy 11). The tree and house are made entirely out of salvaged materials picked from the dumpsters and streets around the artistís 41st Street studio. A branch is made from a stolen police barrier, the trunk of the tree becomes a rainbow of salvaged foamcore, mdf and plywood. As the viewer is invited to climb up into the structure, the tree house itself becomes a scrap wood escape from the rest of the exhibition.
Jules' salon-style installation of self-deprecating paintings play folky jokes on language, politics, and painting itself. Subjects are wide-ranging; from the text "Bush Sucks" or "Neil Young", lettered as if the "Hollywood" sign had been built in a disco; to self-portraits made to flatten most defining facial characteristics. Other paintings include protestors holding hands in a forest (populated by colorful trees similar to that which holds up the "Tree House"), a ceramic brick with a painting of a brick wall on it, and a bright tent with a large sign that states "Huge Blow Out Sale".
IMAGE
Jules de Balincourt
Tree House with Johnston Foster and Andy Cross,
mixed media,
17' x 15' x 15', 2001 (studio view)
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