by Anne Gabriel
Track 16, a downtown Bendix building staple, has recently inaugurated a new location in the close-by Melrose Hill art enclave that seems to be heating up as a hub for new art.
The second show in the space is Beryl Odette, a descendant of slaves and holocaust survivors who—according to her website—wants her work to “begin conversations” and believes there are no “right answers.”
Beryl is a multi-disciplinary artist—that means she does both painting and other things.
Upon entering the space, one is confronted with a sculpture made out of salt encrusted found objects—a glittering welcome to the show, but most of what she shows here is painting. Many adorn each wall, and they seem to be self-portraits or variations thereupon with multiple third eyes painted in oil on canvas. However, several more salt encrusted sculptures, a miniature resin ladder, a concrete head with painted interior, a mirror reflecting on a pedestal, a ball of string seated next to an image of scissors created out of sand, and a miniature baseball bat set with multiple resin eyes are all dotted about.
Beryl’s paintings aren’t embarrassingly bad but they are most definitely not the stars of the show. They read as first year painting studies and the lack of sophistication in her paint application (apart from a lone, surreal, self portrait in which her face has vanished) is more than made up for by the sophistication in her sculptures.
These objects have a weight of vision and content, often referencing child-sized objects encrusted or encoded with uncomfortable materials. There is a sure, confident, unity of thought and execution here that is totally lacking in the two-dimensional work.
This may be because the sculptures point to themes outside of Odette’s own face. Keep making sculptures Beryl, for this is where the magic lives. The self portraits? Send them to your mom and dad.
Image: Staff