LD50 | REVIEW | SFAQ
EXQUISITE CORPSE OR WHO’S AFRAID OF CLEMENT GREENBERG?
LANI ASHER — JULY 18, 2015
Installation view. Ryan Wallace “LD50″ at Romer Young Gallery. On view from June 12 – July 25, 2015. Courtesy of Romer Young Gallery
LD50, Ryan Wallace’s solo exhibition of abstract work at Romer Young Gallery, struck me as sophisticated, beautiful, and decorator-friendly. The exhibit, whose title is a term from toxicology meaning “median lethal dose,” features a site-specific installation of mirrored floor squares and plaster blocks embedded with studio debris, and large collaged wall pieces. His magpie approach uses wax, plaster, concrete, tape, glue, cut up tarps, vinyl, powdered metal, and after-images from printing processes to create his mixed media works. In an interview in Hunted Projects, Wallace, a well-informed, thoughtful New York artist and gallery owner who studied graphic design at Rhode Island School of Design, cites a plethora of influences: Action painting, the Beats, jazz, Pierre Chardin’s theory of the Omega Point, Raymond Kurzweil’s notion of technological singularity, and super colliders.