Rarely is art placed in corporate lobbies of any interest,
but Crystal Wagner’s Wild Efflux up the
stairs and around the reception area of the Viacom headquarters at 1515
Broadway in Times Square is a real exception: a 170-foot long creation of
paper, chicken wire, torn plastic table cloths, and paint that, though it
references pop masters like Frank Stella in its overwhelming “presence,” shows
a lightness of touch that marks a very different sensibility. Not since Lisi
Raskin’s debut, the totally immersive Switchyard at Guild and
Greyshkul in 2007, has there been a first major New York appearance of an
artist working with paper that delivers so much, as is also demonstrated in her
wallboxes next to the installation. Viacom’s curator has really escaped the
curse of corporate exhibitions, with their deadly earnest hanging of second-rate
paintings and placemnt of dated academic sculpture, perhaps because of all the
creative types who work in the building. The work may be viewed during business
hours. The artist is represented by Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francsco. (For
a Viacom video, please access https://vimeo.com/130508371.)
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