So when I heard they were displaying a Stephanie Toppin painting, I went to check it out. I liked her work in $timulus.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWs_KScxCfNQP5M34xV81CglKx7MZl9njH99ZWo7nxSDMcUehnJVXpRkvrR95kNdP0nwPQgbKMp9oXNS5aGCHWQF3Be2XwstGCR8RrCqyp2DAKBJPHsOu7_P_sGp34X4I0aWCbJd_B6Kw/s640/Box+13+Stephanie+Tobbin+composite+small.jpg)
Oneself by Oneself, Stephanie Toppin, 2009
- The piece is huge.
- Evidently, the piece at Diverse Works and this one are part of a single larger piece.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5WBzda8XUD7_g0cNPsDViFLacSuygoGH4KUfUUgFOA-IUZnWFkfToAA3DGe8XmxaE1U2AbxOiYw_8Qjk8lIZ6exjcYWiB5cRt0emODgjKrDGDQO_do21rzl2DgFRdIJRtabvPCd3IVFw/s640/Stephanie+Tobbin+detail.jpg)
Oneself by Oneself detail, Stephanie Toppin, 2009
- The bigger piece is a "self-portrait" in the form of a timeline.
- It might be better to call it a "memoir".
- But of course, no one would be able to figure out the subject of this large abstract work by looking at it.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhj_63eK1s-wRAdKMFDOKwy7jCtBt6ha12n_v8K1-xIYZmEGen_pOC0h5QmpHl5bhTNOIFYpm8dtocH0MtNF8_ot3h-yP3EHGJhpQXbW6QKI1SslvfjqlGb8S0csbCwWDEi83IvhdKabw/s640/Stephanie+Tobbin+detail+2.jpg)
Oneself by Oneself detail, Stephanie Toppin, 2009
- Instead, one sees a brightly colored abstraction that rewards close looks.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOaR05jHDuqf_hkmJJYUT3v_XSILrlzBZvver1csXfGd7qiNRQYeHfueZD2FPUyyw3qtaHltliqmw5bpeRQ9WNuvTp4fyMIacZxXsKnqHjAEqdX5utOGfE0FUayMo40OkGqZjeVPMtofA/s640/Stephanie+Tobbin+detail+3.jpg)
Oneself by Oneself detail, Stephanie Toppin, 2009
- Her handling of paint and colors remind me of early Melissa Miller.
- I love this work.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxIS3eYPNByDI99XBrR4uiYm1eKIZK9CRKVkBsAfwSjYOT6ym07mqCLbvbNFjoR4Op1coyKFYy-6QyGPaW3lJBbhY2NzEYPSAPY-0DGV6TBbhhR_jV4y6dHn6yzd3MG6MnmTTWE4TCzU/s640/Box+13+b%2526w+picket+fence.jpg)
Black and White Picket Fence, Emily Sloan, 2009
- Emily Sloan had three pieces that I thought were cool.
- The show was somewhat lacking in identifying labels, so I don't know what they were called.
- One could call them "Picket Fence," "G Cone," and "Castors" I guess.
- Update: I have titles for her pieces, as you can see beneath the photos.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbd_dtLKMS8XNUVEA303RJ5XrCdCY0KQkXhGtGTXY-oH_WMCIbUl7duV2g1mqSNH1AkvODZpi9vvGJcwRxiROoKNPiHI583uUkr7XpXbrXoiiHa2GGlK3xRfol6EXL7x-kScm1m4Yf_uQ/s640/Box+13+yellow+%2526+black+on+castors.jpg)
Traveling Bauhaus R, Emily Sloan, 2009
- These sculptural works kind of belong to the category of works that can be described thus:
- No Artistic Talent Was Required to Make Them
- But They Are So Intriguing and Visually Interesting, They Must Be Art
Turf, Emily Sloan, 2009
- This is not meant as an insult.
- After all, Duchamp proved that this approach could be art back in 1913.
- It becomes incumbent on the viewer, aided by contextual clues, to decide what is art.
- Postmodernism contended that this was always true.
- See for example 'La Mort de l'auteur'* by Roland Barthes.
- And in my eyes, Emily Sloan's work is cool.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTmA-lhe_Gt9oX6AzfQzqNKSUIWaAEzke62_wow-ymTm02D97Y5ChDgb4KB7jJn0pIbYgmxrcqYgsfu5gLgv1_ZbMRxMUYMGyItyg0iDiCodWbKVsqZy54ZaI7Vll6mlk09uLDlJVqUA/s640/Box+13+buffalos.jpg)
Stampede, Kia Niell, 2009
- I guess the same could be said about the flying buffaloes of Kia Niell
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG1xt0F7RBS3Bx_SDRejaRCnkGWBtuQbn986HpbxrPBfZTOW4sF9MiS30mVbHs8igzaFFyUxW9-E2BuxUij4oMTJeoO8VvWjYssfxzsA_0jWDcZp4C7qzUefkT6phTLOeerfurqxgh74o/s640/Box+13+buffaloes+from+above.jpg)
Stampede, Kia Niell, 2009
- I liked how the shape of the piece changed as you walked up the stairs.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQCpYmuS4GTg_ZyE73bUzwEXVVU7tefYYQPh8Z-If5p_OeCbOFCDHRG-VHEPp8ca58DFSd5rDUQtB9A5VnxAHGTlypJLlrVhl6C92S6jmtcf0eU7bcRKRLsM41OANhhf1bDutC3tvXmw/s640/Anthony+Day+1.jpg)
from "Zen and the Indulgence of Environmental Destruction," Anthony Day, 2009
- The notion of building things out of the interesting "negative" shapes of styrofoam packing material is not a bad one.
- But with the weak coloring (stryrofoam is notoriously hard to paint) and scattershot approach, Anthony Day's totems have little impact.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm6LsxBACZwIMQAr4ZhWCz6dio9XufHhdQnMvnm8YWrPAfPOfIbq9QB9xI_uHWwYcLpCRnAW7VS7UbPOyH1nn0xW_oEaeUeHp72-kiL6id_wIaMbn8J4mZrEEj7cK3u3WYukeBLwpQw-M/s640/Box+13+back+yard.jpg)
back yard of Box 13
- Remember Kathryn Kelley? I think Box 13's back yard might be her studio.
- All in all. Box 13 is one hell of an art space. I'm embarrassed that I had never heard of it before this weekend.
*That's French.
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