Perry Rubenstein Gallery - W. 23rd St.

Successive approximation: n. A method for estimating the value of an unknown quantity by repeated comparison to a sequence of known quantities. (The American Heritage Dictionary)


Perry Rubenstein Gallery is pleased to present Successive Approximation, a group exhibition of multi media works by five artists in various stages of their careers. Whether intentional or not, the problem-solving or computational method where a succession of approximations is used to achieve a desired degree of accuracy is an integral factor in each of the included works.

Auerbach riffs on the popular children's game of telephone; in her video a word or phrase is whispered from person to person around a circle and then announced after one rotation. This exchange of information morphs language so much that ultimately the meaning is altered completely. Mike Quinn presents a series of collages that combine sports pennants with sections of the New York Times' coverage of March Madness laced with remnants of the drugs that mark the artist's celebration or ritual of watching each game. Quinn develops a visual system of mapping out the irrational behaviors and emotions that come with escape and addiction that is as haunting as it is beautiful.

The mathematical method of successive approximation becomes not only a conceptual factor but also a literal one. Each line or stroke or cut-out is followed by a second, and the second by a third, and a third by a fourth until the "desired" result is formed, until the unknown becomes known, until the work reveals itself. Parts are lined up/ layered until and in order for there to be a whole. The process also becomes a theory of context: each of the artists is a figure or "quantity" with his or her own unique and respective language; but, when presented together, the impact of that language is heightened.

Concurrently on view at the gallery's 24th Street spaces is CriKCity & The Walls That Scour Us, an exhibition of watercolors and intricate wall drawings by Santiago Cucullu.