
The exhibition at Field of Play gallery titled Onslaught of the Moment was wonderful, intriguing and timely all in one. The gallery’s exhibitions are always deeply considered and engaging, even within a smaller space, the works all shine and carry with them quite the presence. The shows are always curated with care, and this exhibition was no exception. Curated by Kate Sherman, the works of Lauren Clark, Masie Love, and Brian Karlsson each traverse space and show a progression of both time and experience through each artist’s process.
I found great joy and interest in learning about Brian Karlsson’s book pieces. Each is an open sketchbook displayed on the wall by hooks, collaged with sourced materials and full of many connections, ideas, and moments. While we may not know the connection of each image or why Karlsson chose each to be included, we get to experience each and every one, feeling the moment depicted in the image as if we were watching a movie in our minds. With the overlapping of some and the cropping of others, one begins to wonder why one scene runs into the next or why certain ones might have been cut short, this over-saturation of images, of experiences is a true catalog of moments in time.

This cataloging of moments is very prevalent in today’s times, given the constant barrage of experiences and images in our everyday lives, much of which we may never be able to fully make out, however, when given time, these experiences become wonderful discoveries. For me, these pieces allow me the opportunity to slow down and look, and even look once more. Finding time to pause and actually experience some of the moments or snapshots around me. This opportunity to slow down and enjoy the little details brings me right into Masie Love’s stitched pieces, pictured below. Both her process and pieces elicit an electric movement across the walls, in both creation and presentation.

Knowing that Love’s process is inspired by quilting and her family history in Tennessee, her choice to assemble these pieces—both in the wall work and the stretched piece—offers a glimpse into her making process. By hand stitching each piece together, Love builds up a space that is ever expanding, the ripples on the canvas always seemingly in perpetual motion. These assembled pieces express moments in other ways as well, through material and time. The time taken to build these is important, and every material and color is considered, like Karlsson’s books, we may not know the exact reason why a part of the work was chosen but we get to experience the joys of its presence all the same.
Love’s other wall work, Untitled, connects immensely well to Lauren Clark’s wall piece titled Four Points Round, where fabric is overlain overtop copper plates, and the transparency of the fabric lets us see through the layers. Those atmospheric layers carry through Love’s charcoal piece, where the ripples we see on the canvas work emerge from other textures, looking as if it is under an array of light Illuminating greys.

The wall piece, Firedamp, on the farthest wall is very intriguing. Copper plates held together by linen thread in a descending motion, where each copper piece, handpainted, shaped, and cut shows moments of pause and consideration within the flow of making. In seeing each piece of copper, you get to see instances of what decisions Clark has made as she prepares the copper to accept oil paints, and what other moments built up to making this final piece. The piece is full of movement, the copper descending downward, pulls energy from the floor and pulls it all the way up, and vice versa.

Being a viewer within this exhibition, you become susceptible to the push and pull of each piece. Like the pacing of an Ozu film, where you feel the movement of time passing, each moment becomes a long shot in a film, a long experience. However long “the camera” may linger in this case, is up to the artist. With this exhibition, you are pulled into the artist’s processes, pulled into the moments that interested them, the materials they collected, and the pieces they used to build up their works. Then, within the works themselves, you flow through each wall, following the ripples and electric currents that carry through each piece. This show is both an experience of existence and time. Moments in various forms are important to the artists and are an important aspect to this show, as viewers are able to follow the flow of the space and become immersed in the ebb and flow of time.
All images provided by Taylor Bielecki and Field of Play/ Masaki Hori
Onslaught of the Moment at Field of Play curated by Kate Sherman, Suite #21, June 14th – July 13th, 56 2nd Avenue, South Slope, Brooklyn, NY, Open Sundays 1-6 pm or by appointment. @fieldofplaygallery
About the Writer: Taylor Bielecki lives in Gowanus, where her studio is, and works at Pratt Institute, where she earned her MFA, she also studied at Penn State, where she earned a BA in English and a BFA in Fine Arts. She finished as a finalist in the Kennedy Center’s VSA National Emerging Young Artist program for 2017; where she earned an award of Excellence. She has shown prints internationally in a print exchange in Australia and exhibitions in Dubai, India and the Glasgow School of Art. She has also shown paintings internationally in Gallery 24N, PhilaMOCA’s juried exhibitions in Philadelphia, Pa., Perry Lawson Fine Art in Nyack, NY, BWAC in Red Hook, and Greenpoint Gallery in Brooklyn. Taylor has joined Art Spiel as a contributing writer.
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