Canadian artist James Carl made his first major US debut with his exhibition: James Carl: oof, on view in GFS’s East Gallery July 28, 2018 — January 5, 2020.
James Carl: oof featured a monumentally scaled wall relief constructed from corrugated cardboard. It used the iconic cast-pulp commercial egg carton as a formal starting point and exploded that structure across the full length of the East Gallery’s 80’ long accordion-shaped wall. Carl’s geometric version of the egg carton was computer-cut, hand-assembled, and installed by the dozens on the vast wall. Carl observed that the work’s visual “noise” will contrast with its acoustic flattening on the space.
As with much of Carl’s work, oof made use of common materials and cultural reference points in the generation of a visually charged experience. The title of the work alluded simultaneously to the visual punch of the piece and to the French word, oeuf, meaning ‘egg’. “Relief sculpture is explicit in its reliance on architecture to give it a place in the world. It struggles with three dimensionality and autonomy, using spatial illusion, pattern, and implied movement as means to exceed its architectural confines,” said Carl.