33 BOND
33 Bond Street #1
November 30–January 12
 | My Favorite Places as of November 2007, acrylic and carbon transfer on paper, 17 x 14". |
If artists like Sophie Calle and Tracey Emin have long employed self-confession for its arresting aberrancy, Andrew Kuo explores a newer, gentler incarnation of self-disclosure, one made familiar by blogs and YouTube. Kuo began a blog in 2005, and his colorful, obsessive graphs documenting his experiences as an indie-rock showgoer attracted enough attention that the New York Times ultimately featured his work in its music pages. In “What Me Worry,” the artist continues to use quirky (and sometimes hilariously haphazard) infographics to render extreme introspection visual. The bar graph in Some Things I Am Scared of as of November 2007 reveals that that his fourth-greatest fear—his father dying—has already happened. Fear number 15—MY FRIENDS BECOMING BORED OF ME—is color-coded to correspond to a legend entry: I KNOW, SOUNDS LIKE COMPLAINING. Most of Kuo’s new pieces are abstract, packed with loopy layers of cuttings and scribbles almost graceful enough to conquer the neuroses that purportedly motivated the work. When viewed as an outlet for anxiety, these pieces recall some of Louise Bourgeois’s abstract insomnia drawings; both artists’ mental states inform their processes, and viewers start to imagine ties between perceived vagaries of hand and mind. An artist’s statement, written by Times colleague Kelefa Sanneh, is crucial to the show, adding to Kuo’s image as someone deeply uncomfortable with art critics, review readers, and, most of all, himself. But ultimately, Kuo exposes his neuroses with take-it-or-leave-it cheer, much like bloggers glad to chatter at anyone who might be listening. He abstains from making a confident hard sell, giving “What Me Worry” the peculiar charm of a first date that’s more therapy session than seduction.
—Dawn Chan
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