‘The Family of Man in Watercolor’
Natalya Kochak's diaphanous figures traverse the walls in a ghostly promenade
Reviewed by Wayne Alan Brenner, Fri., Aug. 13, 2010
'The Family of Man in Watercolor'
Pump Project Art Complex, 702 Shady, www.pumpproject.org
Through Aug. 22
Natalya Kochak's "The Family of Man in Watercolor" populates Pump Project's sizable gallery with a diverse representation of our species, rendered near life-size or larger in watercolors or a combination of those watercolors and water-based silkscreen techniques.
Water, water, everywhere, as the poet said – but there's much to drink from here if you're thirsty for vicarious company in two dimensions. The artist's methods create crowds of people – blurred, diaphanous – who mingle like phantoms, doppelgängers of those who have come to see the exhibition, layering themselves in spectral strata of full-body portraiture, trafficking hallways, alcoves, rooms, carefully painted architectural interiors, an endless flowing cocktail party of human apparitions displayed on immense canvas or expensive watercolorist's paper.
There are solo portraits, too, along one wall. "The Bruised Fruit" section of the show: Outtakes from the stilled cinema of the "Temporal Slice" section's crowds, as it were, upon which more focus has been lavished and the displayed subjects are recognizable as individuals, distinct in design and demeanor, perhaps only waiting for an invitation before joining their comrades in the ghostly promenade on the nearby walls.
Our favorite combination of hydrogen and oxygen is not only most of what makes up each graced anatomy but also the classical symbol of consciousness. You can get lost in thought among these congregations of Kochak's, taking in the liquid visions and – as you move through a multihued crowd of humanity in the stark venue, as you scrutinize those faint mirror-images gathered and framed with pigment and talent – reminding yourself: This is water. This is water.
