Gregory Barsamian, "Private View," at The Boiler

Gregory Barsmian, Artifact, 2010. Steel, glass, polyurethane foam, motor, strobe lights. Photos: 16 Miles [more]

Gregory Barsamian’s newest sculpture looks a bit like the type of art a totalitarian dictator would commission. It is a gigantic steel head, sitting on its side and apparently ready to be placed on top of a towering soldier or warrior figure: an idealized, model piece of art for any leader looking to promote masculinity, athleticism, and discipline within his dictatorship. However, looking closer, one sees a strobe light flashing through minute cracks in its surface. In the skull and the nostrils there are holes to peer through. Inside, one sees metal wires and foam objects — bright red apples, heads, green hands, and yellow birds — flying about wildly, apparently set in motion through a trick of the eye achieved by a few well-placed strobe lights. It is an uncanny experience accomplished through relatively modest means. Smooth, symmetrical, and stolid on the outside, it’s chaotic, anarchic, and sublime within: not such a great monument to order after all. Well worth the trip to North 14th Street.