Garin Pirnia

Josiah McElheny is no stranger to Chicago, having last shown at Donald Young gallery two years ago. McElheny returns for his fifth Donald Young show with a brand new sculpture, his short film entitled "Conceptual Drawing for a Chandelier, 1965" and to showcase some of his prints. Born in Boston and now residing in Brooklyn, McElheny, whose solo and group shows have thrived in several cities across the nation and Europe, is an unsurpassable artist in the field of glass blowing and chrome as he delves under the surface to craft dense and thoughtful works. Integrating art and science, he explores the Big Bang Theory in countless ways. At the "Part Object Part Sculpture" exhibit at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio last year, he screened the aforementioned short film on the subject of a chandelier in the Metropolitan Opera House. To him, the Big Bang represents an expansion of space, not just an explosion. The themes translate into his works as the glass pieces in the chandelier symbolize galaxies, while the illuminated lamps signify quasars. McElhney's influences include the writer Jorge Luis Borges, whose short story "The Garden of Forking Paths" contains intricate musings on labyrinths, mirrors and identity. Likewise, McElhney tells stories through his elements of spokes and globes. In New York in 2001, Josiah McElheny revisited the Bauhaus school of the late 1920s in "The Metal Party" show. His original metallic surfaces involved audience participation as viewers were coerced to see themselves as part of the work and to wear silver Mylar costumes. 2004's exhibit, "Total Reflective Abstraction" at Donald Young, saw him generating three projects in mirrors and other reflective materials to perpetuate his examination of the physical and perceptual effects of reflectivity leading to his thesis that "the act of looking at a reflective object could be connected to the mental act of reflecting on an idea." Whether he's challenging his audience to really look at themselves or instigating the scientific method, Josiah's glistening metallic objects are fascinating to dissect.

Josiah McElheny shows at Donald Young Gallery, 933 West Washington, (312) 455-0100. Through Oct. 31.

(2006-09-19)

Also by Garin Pirnia

Tip of the Week
L.A native Kehinde Wiley composes oil paintings featuring portraits of powerful and confident-looking young African-American men filled with backgrounds of vivid and gilded colors that sometimes flow into the forefront
(2006-09-05)

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