David Castillo Gallery presents 12th Man by Wendy White

February 16, 2015

Art exhibition review by Nina Laguna

It’s truly incredible how sports can bring so many people together creating a community of fans. They can draw you closer to complete strangers, loved ones, friends and foes; all for the love of the game. We go to stadiums together and crowd in people’s basements to see the big game. We debate how to assess and appreciate the loss of Derek Jeter. We get into fully heated discussions about steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. With our deep connection and passion for the team does this make us, the fans, the extra player? The 12^th Man? Yes, according to Wendy White latest exhibition 12^th Man, at the David Castillo Gallery. In this exhibition of her latest works Wendy White attempts to make the connection of fans to athletes through art expressionism by using, “large scale paintings that fuse inkjet prints and acrylic painting with custom gold frames that drip down the wall like melting trophies”.  (Castillo)

Wendy White solo exhibition at the David Castillo Gallery on Lincoln Road stemmed from her previous exhibition that carried a similar theme of sports that is tied to the counties nationalism. El Campo, Van Horn, Düsseldorf DE (April 30 – June 6, 2014). Her artwork plays with the order the layers, so you end up with a painting that is much more challenging to figure out in one glance. She creates interesting effects so it seems as if you’re wiping away the mirror to reveal the fog or something that is being reflective.

Most of the artwork on display is made with inkjet and acrylic on UV Vinyl, wood and gold Mylar artist’s frame, some have a custom shaped hand painted rug, others have a gold mirror and PVC custom frame. Regardless of the materials used, it is definitely a cohesive exhibition capturing the emotion of the sport. The gallery space emphasis its bright white walls by using its florescent lighting to highlight the artwork on the wall using the wall as a frame.

She employs qualities of paint, which appears to use a spray paint over the photographs than a brush. The technique used employs a deceptive perception and re-dines the artwork as it has a sense of fade out, as if the artist simply ran out of paint. It’s as if the washed-out photographic image seems to be fading right before our eyes. The only other way I can describe the experience is as if you’re walking into a fog, that’s in a snow globe where it’s been shaken with such vigor of extreme intensity. What I found even more distracting was the fluorescent light reflecting these fogged paintings with white background walls. Between the nebulous environment and the artwork it was extremely difficult to concentration on the artwork alone. Perhaps it won’t be so distracting if the walls were darker and the lighting lessens allowing the viewer to solely focus on the art.

The show represents both genders, but only women are shown in their times of glory and victory. The men, on the other hand, are depicted being faced with strong sentiments that show their vulnerability not usually seen. For example, the image that is used of Derek Jeter is of him turning his back to the camera, hiding any sign of emotion in his last game before retirement. This is a reversal of the archetypal portrayal of gender a reminder that men and women share equal triumphs and disappoints.

As fans, the 12^th Man, we can express sympathy with our much loved athletes’ triumphs and losses. Wendy White does a thought-provoking achievement by looking to balance role reversal in sports which can be a heavily male dominated. Sports fans will strongly appreciate the theme of the exhibition and fans of contemporary art using spray paint or air bush as a medium will also appreciate the exhibition. Those interested in seeing artwork that has a strong visual redefining perception due to the combination of the environment and the artwork will appreciate the power in her technique. Wendy White’s 12^th Man is on view through March 15, 2015 at the David Castillo Gallery on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.

Wendy White received her MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts. She has received numerous honors including a New York Foundation for the Arts Painting Grant, the George & Helen Segal Painting Grant, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Award. Her work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art; Kunstverein Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin; Savannah College of Art & Design; The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm; Sotheby’s S|2, New York; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; and Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, among others. Her upcoming exhibitions include The Taguchi Hiroshi Art Collection: A Walk Around the Contemporary Art World After the Paradigm Shift at The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan. There is a feature on the artist and her 12^th Man exhibition in the February 2015 issue of Modern Painters. White lives and works in New York, NY.