28 Oct 2020

Farrago

New York Artists Equity Association

Reviewed by Elizabeth Johnson

Farrago brings together collage artists Marianne Gagnier, who challenges boundaries and resolution, Melissa Staiger, who pursues wholeness in pieces made between different studios, and Linnea Paskow, who reconstitutes deeply felt dreams using magazine fragments.

Countering beauty with brawn, Gagnier's Air series, white cherishes subtle, chance paint on smeared, torn, or trampled paper shards – yes, messier is better. Staiger's El Yerberito balances finger-like paper shapes above a churning, painted vortex. In contrast, Blue Circle defies drama, expressing repose with airy brushstrokes. Paskow's Lodge invents a traversable space from glossy photos. Similarly, Wand contrives a totem from flat bits of roots, forest, and fabric.

Benjamin La Rocco's related but separate outdoor installation Left Out in The Rain both respects and neglects treasured but oft-discarded objects, questioning attachment. La Rocco's liberties amplify Farrago's underlying, carefree materialism.