NIALL MCCLELLAND | CLINT ROENISCH
The title of Niall McClelland's exhibition references the narcisstic bravado of American street ball and one man in particular: Hot Sauce. For his third solo exhibition at the Clint Roenisch gallery, McClelland offers a slow-motion video of Hot Sauce highlights as he eviscerates defenders on the court. Around the corner, an array of semi-deflated basketballs exudes a feeling of what is remembered of the semi-famous athletes' career: the balls remain, but the players are forgotten. The process of deflation creates cavities in the ball, which allows rain water to pool and dirt to collect.
This theme of dirt continues in the main area of the gallery, where five large-scale works of art hang on the wall and appear to depict mold or moss in earthy-hues. While the pieces are not paintings, they do share with the medium the process of building up layers over time. Each piece is a sort of archaeology of his artistic practice; McClelland lets the paint seep through the splayed canvas to the filthy concrete floor of his studio. They are in fact the layers of floor that became a fixture of the canvas when he slowly peeled it back. In a nod to abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock, McClelland decided the materials and the process was the art.
Niall McClelland: Hot Sauce continues at the Clint Roenisch Gallery to Feb. 28.
See http://clintroenisch.com for more information.
