In his new show at the Gladstone Gallery, Gary Hill presents an installation of a sexy and Political nature. From revolving custom gold coins (struck with rude pictures and cynical Latin phrases regarding the art world) that are seen through the eyepieces of far-off white telescopes on birch wood pyramidal plinths, to the giant American eagle projection reflected in a pool of oil with a bar of gold in it, Gary Hill offers us the typical genre critique of power and excess (re: Bush, Saudi Princes) found in such films as: “The Godfather, Part II,” or “Scarface,” subtly diluted and “refined” by the typical Chelsea Aesthetics of Ms. Gladstone’s Gallery.
Mr. Hill, whose works are undoubtedly “Fo Sale,” seems unaware of the irony in presenting such didactic and political work in Chelsea. That is like being on vacation in Bogotá and saying you don’t like coke.
I think we can all agree that Chelsea has become nothing more than another empty institution; no less removed from the Chain of Production than Wal-Mart. Herein lies the root of Mr. Hill’s problems, and the demise of this work of art. While I did find some guilty, masturbatory pleasure from this installation, I am unsettled by his lack of respect for the art viewing public.
This work is weak and meaningless, and not in the good way.
