Upon entering Catriona Jeffries Gallery recently I could not decide whether I was being greeted, accosted, or simply ignored by what one might describe as “a colourful cast of characters,” created by Geoffrey Farmer for a solo exhibition entitled “The surgeon and the photographer.”
Almost the entire warehouse space is given over to the display of 365 cloth and paper figurines, clumped together on seamlessly white plinths. Their paper features are collaged images pulled from magazines, and are occasionally extended and distorted by additions to their wire frames. The expressions on this multitude of faces are confused by uncanny juxtapositions of eyes-mouths-noses-hands, not all of them human, or even animate. Here and there above the crowd float birds, protest signs, and even a celery-garnished Caesar, all glue-gunned to precariously balanced heights of wire.
In place of any didactic panels (the likes of which are normally eschewed at Catriona anyways) there are two sheets of plain white paper hinged invisibly to the walls; the first at the entrance, and the other at the far end of the room. Each proffers an enigma set in clear 12 point Times New Roman: poetic presentations of Zeno’s Paradox and the problem of time.
And time ticks away, audibly, as the soundtrack to a slide show presented in the smaller room, but also without notice. Foolishly I only gave myself an hour, and I never really managed to cross the room.
Geoffrey Farmer is, obviously, represented by Catriona Jeffries Gallery. Enter on the back lane at 274 East 1 Avenue between 11 and 5, Tuesday to Saturday. If you’re late, or early, just look up: a piece by Ron Terada is permanently installed on the outside of the gallery. The surgeon and the photographer closes on March 6, so make time.
Geoffrey Farmer has another ambitious project open this year, called Every Letter in the Alphabet. Something of a studio/event/theatre/hairdressing place at 1875 Powell Street, just down the block from the LES Gallery. Kill two birds with one stone on the weekends, or just visit Every Letter between 11 and 5, Tuesday to Sunday.
