Kelsey Harrington, Untitled, 2009. Custom glass spheres, water, colored pigment, light. Dimensions variable.
The pigmented-water-and-glass installation by painter and designer Kelsey Harrington was among the highlights of the “Objective Affection” exhibition at a Brooklyn waterfront factory building turned into a temporary performance and art space. The exhibition, organized by non-profit organization Boffo, gave equal time to emerging designers, installation artists, and performance artists during its crowded opening on the evening of Saturday, September 19th (the exhibition continues through October 30th, 2009).
Kelsey Harrington, untitled (detail), 2009.
Harrington’s work was an oasis of calm in an often-chaotic mix of work that tended toward the edgier and more attention-grabbing. With the only color supplied by pigmented water suspended in an array of delicate glass spheres, Harrington’s color-field intensified the closer you came to the actual work, and the shadows of the glass orbs themselves added further nuance. The painterly arrangement of colors lured you in by the pleasure of their carefully selected adjacencies, the entire endeavor an elegant and refined gesture.
