Fred Wilson, To Die Upon A Kiss, 2011, Murano
glass, 70" x 68- 1/2" x 68- 1/2", Edition of 6



Fred Wilson                                                          Venice Suite: Sala Longhi and Related Works

Works on display at the Pace Gallery in Chelsea, NY

March 17- April 14,2012

Upon walking into the Pace Gallery on March 23rd of this year, I was greeted with a large, ominous and organic venetian chandelier. One of the things that stood out most to me was the use of both traditional and unconventional means with which to make this chandelier; it is obviously envoking a long history of venetian glass but in a way that is uncanny. The long tendrils branching out from the center body of the chandelier envoke the tentacles of an octopus or squid, while also calling to the phalice of the human form. While the form may be very important, yet another thing that is indelibly intrinsic to the work in the gradation of clear class to an opaque black.

The initial chandelier that is the centerpiece for the Pace entrance is entitled To Die Upon a Kiss, accompanying it is a large wall text that was written by the artist himself. Wilson's account of his sculpture is just as important as the initial reaction of the work. To Die Upon a Kiss is a phrase taken from Shakespeare's play Othello. For the Venice Biennale in 2003, Wilson made a completely opaque black, venetian chandelier similar to this one that was entitled Othello; it was made with the intent to speak specifically to race and the abscence of African Americans in Venice in the Renaissance (the peak of the traditional venetian glass blowing), it was an attempt to somehow bring back those black forces that were inevitably there during that time and giving them the presence that should have always been available. Wilson's more recent gradient chandelier To Die Upon a Kiss, poignantly deals not only with race but with death (no doubt inspired by the death of his own mother). Standing underneath the beautiful bohemith one is fully aware of the draining force of the black glass, the weight of the pigment envoking the sense that it will all but drain out onto the floor. This force is in reference to the inevitability of death as a driving force, the black is a symbol of the life (in contrast to the normal use of black as death) and the gravity of it slipping away. One statement that Wilson makes on the wall that is quite beautiful, is in correlation to both pieces, while his Othello piece for the Biennale was about race specifically, To Die Upon a Kiss highlights that at the end of one's life race has a way of melting away, race is not as important a factor when faced with death, we all die regardless of our ethnicity.



Fred Wilson, Part of Sala Longhi series,black float
 glass, antiqued gold painted wood frames, Murano
 blown glass, and light bulbs,dimensions variable 



In the center room is the Series entitled Sala Longhi that consists of one larger gold frame with a white section of a chandelier breaking the traditional box of the frame surrounded by eerie smaller gold frames filled with a reflective black glass with carefully placed elipses that allow the gallery wall to show through. There is an overwhelming sense of loss and impending doom. The elipses leave want for something more, while looking at them I could see that there was a specific composition to each of them, but could not figure out their significance, it wasn't until I read Wilson's wall text for this room that it began to make sense. Wilson is using the compositions of Pietro Longhi's, a Venetian painter during the 1800's, paintings that commonly depict everyday Venetian life during the Rennaisance. The cut elipses become little floating orbs atop the gallery walls, almost like star scapes. There is a sense of eternity in the blacknes and one of loss; the viewer can look at the spots and make the correlation that there was once something there.



Fred Wilson, Sala Longhi, black float glass, antiqued painted
wood frames



Fred Wilson works with the subject matter of death in this particular series in a beautiful way. It's not in the traditional depiction of the loss of a thing or person that was loved, but it is through the use of readymade objects. These things are universal, they can be made availiable to anyone, making them more relatable, but it is what Wilson has done with them that make it a more personal account. It is apparent, walking through the silent gallery, looking at the apocryphal items that much was lost. It's like walking through a relative's home and seeing all of the deceased plastering the walls, yet this show leaves it open ended for each viewer so they can either see the dead of their past or choose to see Wilson's.

For more information about Fred Wilson visit Pace Gallery's website or watch him on Art21.