OBJECT/SHADOW - Larry Kagan Sculpture

Kagan, however, a superb draftsman fascinated by line, wants to
make a real drawing out of steel and shadow, one that is as detailed and
subtly executed as its counterpart on paper, not merely an outline. He
begins with the shadow, what he wants the image on the wall to be, then
works out the configuration in steel. He uses scrap steel since he prefers
commonplace, non-art materials that are readily available—a criterion
inspired by his teacher Richard Stankiewicz—and his lighting is simple, MR
16 low voltage track lights, based on the same principle. Kagan says he
“goes out of his way to create the unexpected,” a visual, “encrypted”
disconnect between the steel structure that, at times, resembles a tangled
briar patch or even spaghetti and a shadow image that can be complex or
simple.
They are a hybridized positive/negative entity; the steel
(contradicting its actuality) is the negative and the impermanent shadow is
the positive. It’s not possible to determine the cast picture by the steel
construct unless you know what you are looking for. Some of the simplest
shadows—a filled-in, dark oval shape, a circle, and open circular loop with a
double shadow (not in this show)—are the results of the most delirious steel
formations. As his technique developed and his pictorial language became
richer, he has been able to achieve ever more astonishing resolutions, from
drawings of boxes within boxes, chairs, jet fighters, books to full-scale
images of a basketball player in action or a dandy in a tuxedo. He has
learned, for instance, how to make the shadow denser, curve it or straighten
it, how to blur or sharpen lines so that they resemble ink, pencil, pastel or
charcoal wall drawings. He can also vary the tonality of shadows in a single
work so that they range from dark to light. One recent projection—the
circular loop—consists of a lighter and darker circle, the former appearing
to be casting a shadow of itself. Both, however, are insubstantial. The
deception doubled—nothing casting a shadow of nothing—it glimmers as
an apt metaphor for the illusion that is art.
Kagan studied engineering in college before switching to art,
preferring its freedom of expression, its lack of utility. Nonetheless, he
approaches his production with a certain scientific methodology in which
one work is the starting point for the next in a series of explorations of form
and content. He has written that the constituent parts of his Object/Shadow
“must serve three roles at once: as objects that have material characteristics
(texture, sensuality); as specific forms that embody a living process (time,
entropy); and as building blocks in a larger composition (narrative,
content).” The tension created by these three roles clamoring for the
viewer’s attention is what he is looking for. He also asks an intriguing
question, based on the kind of space, time and light that comprise his
Object/Shadow: Do these works occupy something other than a simple
three-dimensional space? Whether it does and whatever else it is, it is a
multi-dimensional experience, an arresting optical drama vested in the
perceptual, phenomenological and philosophical that Kagan, engineer, artist
and spellbinding magician, gleefully translates.
Lilly Wei is a New York-based critic and independent curator.
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