Dionisio González: Dialectical Landscape / Thinking Central Park continues at Galerie Richard
The Dionisio González exhibition at Galerie Richard, his fifth in New York with this Paris-based venue, is a collection of digitally modified photos resembling design proposals that are likely to confuse any viewer trying to comprehend the artist’s opinions regarding urban design. What is unquestionably a visually appealing exhibition is beset with discordant sensibilities.
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I understand that the exhibition takes place in an art gallery and not at a community board meeting, and I can see there are no engineering plans accompanying the photo renderings. But if these are not serious proposals, what are they? The idea of architectural schemes that are not meant for execution is in and of itself a sound idea. Art that relies on a dense architectural context is not the problem. Will Insley did fascinating work in imaginary architecture decades ago, but he had the sense to create hypothetical sites for it. Claus Oldenburg once proposed a war monument that would block all pedestrian and auto traffic at the corner of Broadway and Canal Street in Lower Manhattan, an impossibility that made for a profound critique on war monuments in general.
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