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Review: "Slow Dance" At ACRE Projects

By Staff in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 26, 2012 3:05PM

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EJ Hill's "Light Switch (OFF)" (Matt Austin)

"Slow Dance," an exhibition of new work by EJ Hill and Matt Austin opened this weekend at ACRE Projects in Pilsen. ACRE Projects is an incubator and artist residency for emerging artists. The show was comprised of archival pigment prints, charcoal wall drawings, and the release of their collaborative publication “/”, a 90-page book of drawings, writing and photographs.

“/” had an immediately intimate feel to it, as if flipping through a beautiful journal. It felt almost voyeuristic; a window into someone else’s thoughts. The book begins and ends with contradictory and complimentary lists of verbs, echoing the theme of the show. Austin and Hill each created the pieces for their individual halves of the book separately, but you see unintentionally common themes throughout. There is a raw vulnerability present in the combination of poetry, sharing of experiences, photographs and drawings.

The piece we were most immediately drawn to was “Light Switch (OFF)”, a large charcoal drawing of a light switch that Hill drew directly on the wall. Hill is self-admittedly “not used to making work to hang on walls.” His work is often performance-based and usually focuses around his own body. However, Hill recently moved to Los Angeles and his work has evolved during his transition to a new place. He embraces the change and pointed out that is one of the reasons artists do residencies. “We as artists are in the business of change. My job as an artist is to see change and bring it about for others and myself.”

For Hill, the move to LA was a catalyst to explore new directions and gave him a license to experiment. He missed photography so he bought a camera en route that he hasn’t put down.

“Light Switch (OFF)” was originally created as a drawing on his studio wall when he was experimenting with how to approach making work for the wall. His recreation of the drawing is performative in that the intensity is apparent in every mark. Like his previous work, it relates to his body because the size of the piece is limited to his own natural reach.

Another charcoal drawing, “This means everything to me” has the same sense of passion, vulnerability and fervor. There is movement and speed in the strokes and the smudges of his hands make the work so personal that you feel by seeing it you’ve witnessed the moment it was made.

We were mesmerized by “Nails”, an archival pigment print by Austin that felt like an optical illusion. At first glance, it looks like constellations. In actuality, it is a photo of nails in wood and the resulting shadows. Like Hill’s work, Austin's process is revealed in the piece. The shadows move in different directions, which is visually confusing. However, the nails are bent because Austin put in the nails and manipulated the pattern with the shadows with each nail he placed.

Another of Austin’s photos we were drawn to was “Screen,” which looks like an envelope begging to be opened. The simplicity of the subject is made fascinating by dramatic high contrast lighting that hints at a glimpse of what’s inside.

See "Slow Dance" at ACRE Projects at 1913 W 17th Street in Pilsen from 12 - 4 p.m. Monday, March 26. For more info about EJ Hill, go to www.ejhill.info. To find out more about Matt Austin, go to www.mattaustinphoto.com. Learn more about ACRE at www.acreresidency.org.

—Julia Weeman