Review

"Work in Progress", Mixed Construction Materials.

Justin Farkas
Work in Progress
(Part of Eyes of the World group show)

Noon-5 p.m.

Paragraph Gallery
23 E. 12th
Kansas City, MO
816.221.5115

Hours Noon-5 p.m., Thursdays and Saturdays
Runs through: April 4

Gallery Site: http://www.charlottestreet.org

By show of hands: How many of you ever blew off a project until the last minute, then threw something together and tried to convince the teacher/boss/client your haphazard effort was actually the product of considered thought and offbeat creativity?

Me, too. We've all been there, (kindasorta) done that.

At first look, the assemblage in the southwest corner of the Paragraph Gallery doesn't look like an art installation. The materials for one, sure. It's easy to picture Justin Farkas hauling in a bunch of wood and wire, glass and electrical cord, blue tarps and orange safety fencing ... and then procrastinating until the night before the Eyes of the World group show opened.

What might a panicked artist do in such a situation? He'd chuck the components together, call the whole thing Work in Progress, and toss off a quick statement attempting to make the hastily-contrived look planned. If he's a lucky panicked artist, he'll pull it off.

The more you look, however, the clearer it becomes: Farkas has managed a far more impressive feat. He has made a thoughtful, thought-provoking work look like, "Oh, this old thing? It's just something I threw together."

That's the effect curator Heather Lustfeldt wanted from all of the artists in the group show: Farkas, Audra Brandt, Heather Brown, Rachelle Gardner, Robert Heishman, Erica Leohner, Jessica Owings, Lee Piechocki, Julie Potratz, Allan Winkler and Graham Zuelke.

Rather than focusing on an ideal object or absolute resolution of ideas, Lustfeldt writes, the artists were encouraged to take some risks and try new things with materials and concepts, akin to their work within a private studio environment.

For this piece, Farkas drew inspiration from the book Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution -- and How it Can Renew America, by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. According to Farkas' project statement, the book helped me reconnect to ... ideas about renewable energy and wasted materials.

Farkas' use of building materials underscores the environmental price of progress. Metal must be mined, trees felled, oil (for plastics) pumped from the earth. When those resources are used thoughtlessly, this work suggests, the results can be nothing but a chaotic, tangled object lesson in what not to do.

The title of Farkas' installation reinforces that point. "Work" and "Progress" are considered positive words -- but not all work is undertaken for good reasons, and not everything we call progress moves us in a healthy direction.

Are you feeling bleak now? Don't. Work in Progress can be interpreted in a hopeful way, both "work" and "progress" restoring a stewardship mentality.

The wood and glass box, here used to store building materials, could be a place for tomato seedlings to take root and thrive. The wire and plastic fencing could protect a garden, and blue tarps could cover compost piles. It's all a matter of choice.

Farkas' installation comes down early next month. Its challenges will last long after that. No sense in procrastinating. There's work to do.