Drive In
Blindspots and A Dead End, 1998
video installation
Solo Exhibition, AIR Gallery
Press Release
T
his is the second New York solo exhibition for Angie Eng who approaches video as a tonal language rather than high tech narrative in a sensory charged video installation on the human condition. A membership at AIR gallery granted to her by a fellowship will culminate in work which probes primitive human behavior against oversterilized modern life. With video, sound, a road of wall to wall carpet and side view car mirrors, Eng transforms the gallery into a hybrid of Drive-in theatre and suburban home.
The air engulfed with floral aerosol “freshner” combined with billowing sounds of windshield wipers serves as a foreboding backdrop to Eng’s psychological junction . Video shots of windshield wipers are layered with black gloved hands signing words evoking cruelty, aggression and self-destruction. Side view mirrors taken from old automobiles are illuminated to reveal snapshot transperencies of tract homes superimposed onto hand signs. It is through a subtle emotional twist which Eng uses to examine underlying human inclinations and the American consumer’s vicarious predisposition.
This project was funded in part by Location One, a Susan and Elihu Rose Fellowship, an ETC Presentation Grant which is supported by NYSCA and private contributions.