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Three works in the show cause sparks. "Tesla Wall," periodically discharged
an arc into two wire grids dividing the main gallery. Nikola Tesla invented
a high voltage coil, and other wonders such as A.M. radio tuning. Marconi
was his student, but had more marketing savvy. Tesla was more a performance
artist, giving dazzling displays of his work, making him a Modern
Techne Master.
"Ceiling Ladder," and "Wall Ladder," in the middle gallery, are variations
on "Jacob's Ladder." The Patriarch Jacob had a vision of a ladder reaching
to heaven (Genesis XXVII, 12). Skyward reaching phenomena have since been
named in honor of that vision, and none more aptly than the electric arc
which travels upward between two metal rods inclined in an open "V" formation.
Looking at arcs leaping across the Time-Space of the Castelli Gallery,
I'm pleased that Sonnier has begun to explore energy fields beyond the
confines of his neon sculptures. Sonnier's studies seem a
step in the Meta-Kinetic direction. Just don't step too close, or you'll
be shocked (literally).
When I first saw Dan Flavin at Castelli, I thought, "that's it? A couple of fluorescent fixtures screwed together?"
It took a second look for me to realize that that was it. Through a
minimalist vocabulary Flavin had introduced fluorescent light as a medium in
contemporary art.
Sonnier has long worked in light. His videos & films on video were playing
in another gallery. Neon was the dominant medium for most of
the work in this show. But, with his three sparkers, Sonnier may do for the
arc what Flavin did for fluorescence. These high voltage works make the
medium of electrical energy the issue. To put it semiotically; These are
perfect images of "the medium as the message."
Flavin, Nauman, Sonnier, and others have introduced Post-modern Techne into
the dialectic spoken by contemporary culture's "Establishment." Artists like
Roxy Paine, Tim Hawkinson, the members of ASCI, and others are forming
another wave. As the path of art history branches in the Neo-kinetic
direction, we may hope people touring this path from the future will
appreciate the arc's "Old Masters," such as Cork Marcheschi, Bill Parker,
Alejandro Sina, et al., and the "Grand Master," Nikola Tesla.
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