Triple Diesel

Last summer, the TD crew was privy to one of Jerry Saltz' lectures at SVA.

He described how "the paradigm had shifted." "The boys in black are back," he said, and cited the Barbara Gladstone show, "Bridge Freezes Before Road." This includes Dan Colen, Dash Snow, and then Adam McEwen, Aaron Young, and Banks Violette. These artists crossed paths frequently thereafter in shows at Nicole Klagsbrun, Perry Rubenstein, Bartolami Dayan, and Deitch Projects, and also the last two Biennials, and earned the favor of David Rimanelli.

We think the boys in black are those JS bemoans in "Reconstruction Zone," his recent review for the Voice. In that article, he describes in an unwelcome tone the testosterone/nihilism/post-adolescent/punk aesthetic. This seems to correspond to the "boys in black" idea.

In 2004, JS wrote about "termite art," catching that paradigm before its peak. In 2005, he forecast the "boys/black" movement. So we wonder if he casts the "Riederer Reconstruction" (RR) as a new paradigm. (And we wonder if we are accurately retracing his steps.) One hint may be the "Dereconstruction" show upcoming at Gladstone (the paradigm place?), curated by Matthew Higgs.

Some of the terms in "Recon. Zone" sound familiar: "Painstakingly reassembled all the fragments" reminds me of "labor-intensive," "obsessiveness," and "gestures, bits, and pieces;" from the "California Earthquakes" (2004) review. But maybe the painstaking/fragments dimension is secondary - not intrinsic - to the mission of reconstruction. Moreover, it's significant how RR chooses reconstruction, while termite art undermines and destroys.