If you didn’t make it to Mike Nelson’s show at 303 Gallery before it closed this past Saturday, don’t sweat it. Perhaps you recall this British artist’s masterpiece, A Psychic Vacuum, from the fall of 2007 at the old Essex Street Market. A scaled down version of this, shoved into a gallery, does not work. I was fist pumping my way to witness where this amazing artist had taken his work in the last 2-1/2 years, only to be extremely underwhelmed.

Four Airstream trailers dating from 1939 to 1968 were connected (via parts of a fifth trailer) into a square formation. Up some wooden stairs was the lone entry point. You could navigate through all four at the same time and return to your previous spot. Nelson addresses American history through the romantic ideals that were marketed and embedded with the futuristic Airstream, while questioning where the American dream is today. We know the answer to this question before walking into the gallery. Yeah yeah, America sucks, war sucks, we get it. An unexpected approach or interesting perspective to this Goliath subject was not achieved at 303.

Ducking your way through the trailers reveals the artist’s heavy-handed placement of objects. A Vietnam veteran T-shirt, a book titled The Spectacle of Death, an Islamic poster, and toys referencing cowboys and Indians are a few of the scattered items. The sense of abandonment from the forgone trailers was overshadowed by the forced fake relics off the United States list of world blemishes. Granted, Mike Nelson’s block size installation is hard to top, but “Quiver of arrows” was obviously the prequel.

Sterling Ruby: 2Traps
Pace Wildenstein
545 West 22nd
February 5th – March 20th

Trap number one, I fell into shortly after exiting the gallery. Do not read the press release. At the very least, wait 24 hours. The Press Release (3-stapled pages) could easily be the intro of a yellow and black book titled: Sterling Ruby for Dummies. Perhaps this is acceptable since Sterling Ruby’s crowd is growing and morphing, this being his first solo exhibition with Pace Wildenstein. One could also argue it is telling people what to think – specifically, collectors.

Now that we are thinking for ourselves, let’s get onto the artist. German born, LA based Ruby recently had a sexually charged (or uncharged depending upon how much porn you’ve exposed yourself to) video installation at Foxy Production in October of last year. In 2008 the Drawing Center showed approximately 50 works dating back to 2003; while Metro Pictures simultaneously showed his ceramic-based sculptures. Sterling is also known for his monolithic Formica and stalagmite structures. Given the space allotted at Pace and a diverse practice to “draw” upon, the stage was set for Ruby to impress. The hype garnered did not compare to say the recent Urs Fischer New Museum show, but unlike Urs, Sterling delivers. He actually parks one sculpture, titled BUS.

The two sculptures in the exhibition both measure 10’ x 9’ x 40’. BUS is an old bus turned sculpture with steel cages inside and an extravagant looking sound system in the rear. The viewer is left to wonder whether sound emits from the work. The “Cliff’s Notes” on hand fail to mention this important detail. The other gigantic work, PIG PEN, is comprised of steel cages. It is a modular grid built with metal security doors. Unlike BUS, you can not enter this sculpture. The desire to attempt to navigate the impassable work is stronger than the satisfaction of walking through BUS. Sterling is operating on multiple levels at the same time, keeping your mind bouncing in between the 2 pieces. He couldn’t have one successfully enter our realm without the other. The artist is deconstructing familiar objects while simultaneously constructing new ones. We are left with new allegories to mediate on. In tandem, 2TRAPS is viscerally seductive and will linger with you long after you exit the gallery. Go park yourself there and think about what you would write in your yellow and black book.