"Heckler"
Press Release for "Heckler" at the Ochi Gallery, 2010
"Using the dynamics of stand-up comedy as her point of departure, Heckler is a fitting title for Larkey’s show. Taking on the role of both performer and audience, Larkey delves into a rigorous inquisition between artist, concept, material, composition and perception. What emerges from this process is work that is intellectual, energetic, dynamic and nothing if not mischievous.
In a vein reminiscent of Joseph Kosuth’s One and Three Chairs, Larkey toys with Saussure’sidea of sign, signifier and signified by using different methodologies: gluing an object (such as an egg) to the paper, or painting a word repeatedly (such as "love") until the word begins to be lost in its own making. Considering herself a heckler, Larkey then methodically begins to camouflage or efface her words —- heckle, if you will —- mark by mark, layer by layer, drip by drip, until they all but disappear into a flurry of color and movement. Much of her mark-making is suggestive of graffiti, connoting a kind of rebellion and defacement.
And yet Larkey’s work does more than merely vandalize these words, objects and semiotic theories. Fascinated by the awful kind of vulnerability involved with stand-up comedy, Larkey is interested in that moment when humor turns on itself— - the moment when the audience doesn’t laugh, or for Larkey, the moment when she decides to destroy her original image. In calling herself a “heckler,” Larkey is being somewhat disingenuous, for her moments of deconstruction are creative. For Kosuth, the formal components of the work were not important. Larkey however, makes pieces that are visually stunning. The works become astute without being pretentious, informative without being preachy, and beautiful without being easy. Their physical presence is arresting and while at first subtle, the thought process behind them is smart, complex, and challenging."
"Using the dynamics of stand-up comedy as her point of departure, Heckler is a fitting title for Larkey’s show. Taking on the role of both performer and audience, Larkey delves into a rigorous inquisition between artist, concept, material, composition and perception. What emerges from this process is work that is intellectual, energetic, dynamic and nothing if not mischievous.
In a vein reminiscent of Joseph Kosuth’s One and Three Chairs, Larkey toys with Saussure’sidea of sign, signifier and signified by using different methodologies: gluing an object (such as an egg) to the paper, or painting a word repeatedly (such as "love") until the word begins to be lost in its own making. Considering herself a heckler, Larkey then methodically begins to camouflage or efface her words —- heckle, if you will —- mark by mark, layer by layer, drip by drip, until they all but disappear into a flurry of color and movement. Much of her mark-making is suggestive of graffiti, connoting a kind of rebellion and defacement.
And yet Larkey’s work does more than merely vandalize these words, objects and semiotic theories. Fascinated by the awful kind of vulnerability involved with stand-up comedy, Larkey is interested in that moment when humor turns on itself— - the moment when the audience doesn’t laugh, or for Larkey, the moment when she decides to destroy her original image. In calling herself a “heckler,” Larkey is being somewhat disingenuous, for her moments of deconstruction are creative. For Kosuth, the formal components of the work were not important. Larkey however, makes pieces that are visually stunning. The works become astute without being pretentious, informative without being preachy, and beautiful without being easy. Their physical presence is arresting and while at first subtle, the thought process behind them is smart, complex, and challenging."
