Tonight, at its 450 Park Avenue location, Phillips de Pury presents “Rorschach, a Curated Selling Exhibition,” which features work by a variety of artists, from Andy Warhol to Sara Greenberger Rafferty, which are related to the famed psychological test developed by Hermann Rorschach.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a pervasive theme,” curator Alex Glauber told Gallerist about his inspiration for the show, “but over the last year and a half, I’ve noticed the Rorschach image in a lot of contemporary work I’ve been seeing—works by Donald Moffett, Louise Despont, Blake Raynes.” But Mr. Glauber’s show also includes works by earlier artists like a collage by Joseph Cornell and a suggestive work by Warhol.
When Mr. Glauber first started looking into it, he discovered that the famed Rorschach test has roots in art, since it “originated out of a parlor game whereby children or adults would create their own ink blots and interpret them.”
And the references to Rorschach in the show’s selections aren’t always literal. There are works in the exhibition that don’t necessarily mimic the bilateral symmetry that we’ve come to associate with Rorschach’s ink blot test, like Jim Campbell’s piece, created using 750 LED lights. But a work like that is informed by the Rorschach in a different way. “Jim’s work is all about the edge between representation and abstraction,” said Mr. Glauber. “How much information does one realistically need in order to know what it is and what’s going on?”
The show, which has been culled both from galleries and private collections, and the majority of which is for sale, will be on view through August 31.
Above, a slide show of some of the works you’ll see in the show.
