Audio By Carbonatix
Artists once used pigments, stone and wood as their media of choice, but in the modern age they are just as inclined to use the fabricated and mechanical. Steel: Fun with guns and pachinko machines features the work of Suguru Hiraide and Margaret Evangeline, two artists who use refined metals and mechanical elements to explore contemporary culture. Hiraide uses his art to examine the cross-cultural curiosities he’s experienced living in Japan and the United States. By rigging pachinko machines into his sculptures, he juxtaposes modern Japanese culture alongside American stereotypes of Japan. For gaijin out there, pachinko machines are like mash-ups of slot and pinball machines that spit out colossal numbers of marble-sized balls instead of tokens. Hiraide uses the sheer number of balls and the dazzling cheesiness of the machines to maximum effect. In exploring American gun culture and her own roots, Evangeline uses metal in an entirely different way. Evangeline takes sheets of painted or polished metal and shoots them with a gun. While it sounds destructive, the effect brings more to the piece by changing the way that the metal reflects light and carries color. The exhibition runs through Saturday, October 8 at the Cohn Drennan Contemporary, 1107 Dragon. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free. Call 214-708-8051 or visit cohndrennancontemporary.com for details.
Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Sept. 10. Continues through Oct. 8, 2011
