I'm back in NYC and exhausted but thought I should keep my promise from Friday and post what I saw of Invader's Top 10 show at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery on Saturday. I fortunately arrived at the gallery shortly after it opened at 11am, managed to spend a good amount of time checking out the work, and still made it to catch my ride out of town! Though it was a frantic, mad dash on a Saturday morning, it was totally worth it to catch Invader's fun, poppy, musically-influenced, eye-crossingly dazzling pieces!
The images on view, created from Rubik's Cubes (or Rubikcubism), reminded me of a few things - Georges Seurat's neo-impressionistic work (perhaps this is neo-neo-impressionism!), Devorah Sperber's thread spool pieces, Roy Lichtenstein and pop art in general (with its bright colors and pop culture imagery). As the title of the show suggests, Invader selected his Top 10 album covers and faithfully recreated them using Rubik's Cubes. The albums chosen were: The Cure's Three Imaginary Boys, Nirvana's Nevermind, The Velvet Underground & Nico, Daft Punk's Homework, The Sex Pistol's Nevermind the Bollocks, Supertramp's Breakfast in America, Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother, Iron Maiden, The Clash's London Calling, and The Beatles' Abbey Road.
While the four images grouped together (Nirvana, The Velvet Underground, Daft Punk, and The Sex Pistols) as well as The Clash were immediately recognizable, it took me a moment to recognize The Beatles and the Iron Maiden covers. Though I love The Cure, I couldn't make out the recreation of their Three Imaginary Boys cover. In all honesty, I am not a fan of Pink Floyd and while I was able to make out the cow on their album cover, I did not know whose or which album it was. And since I know nothing about Supertramp I could not make out that cover at all. I had to cheat and use the show's list at the gallery desk to identify the last three :(
There was also an iPod availabe showing a short (a little over 2 minutes) time-lapse video of The Clash and The Beatles reproductions being made. Also on view in the Rubik's Cube designed gallery were six tiled Space Invader characters grouped together, and one little blue guy hiding above the entrance watching visitors come and go. I'm really happy that I got to see Top 10 before it closed. See my photos from the exhibit below. I've provided links to photos of the album covers for easy reference.
The Beatles, Abbey Road (below)
The Clash, London Calling (above)
Pink Floyd, Atom Heart Mother (above)
The Cure, Three Imaginary Boys (above)
Supertramp, Breakfast in America (above)
The Velvet Underground & Nico - Nirvana, Nevermind - Daft Punk, Homework - The Sex Pistols, Nevermind the Bollocks (above)
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