May. 13, 2009 - Issue #708: Three Square Meals

Entropy

Disorder: Entropy fails to capture excitement of chaos

Christine Koch’s Entropy is a collection of numerous rectangles of black paper covered in various paint marks, apparently a kind of scratch-pad associated with her main, representational body of work which is not shown here. The show is based on the simple proposition that “In installation they unite to become its [sic] own entity and gain merit as a finished work of art.” But this is only somewhat true.

Undoubtably the installation has a crisp, impressive appearance. The uniform black-and-coloured rectangles, separated by an even grid of white wallspace, covers the walls of Harcourt House’s small front gallery—including the wall blocked by the open door. It provokes a certain immediate aesthetic reaction, the sharp grid seeming quite opposite to the Entropy of the title.

The work does not necessarily offer much more in return for further examination, however. One panel features a kind of shopping list of colours, written over and under the paint marks in white, and this was to me the most interesting part of the show. But the other panels do not seem to offer any other specific points of interest. Generally, they contain a mixture of marks that seem considered, and ones that seem awkward and out of place, with some panels tending more in one way or the other. They are all essentially the same. Some of those that are more focussed on exploring one kind of intentional mark may be interesting as abstract studies, but on the whole their paint does not capture much excitement.
According to the flyer, the collection “speaks to the nature of creating and the roles of the unconscious, conscious, intentionality and ‘accidents’ within a studio practice," but it is not really clear what it is saying. V

Until Sat, MAy 30
Entropy
By Christine Koch
Harcourt House, (Third Floor, 10215 - 112 St) 

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