Nov. 3rd - Dec. 3rd 2005.
Jacqueline Gordon's installation at "aLittleDisplay" is a particularly interesting show to review since I am subletting the living room in the house where the gallery resides...

Curator/Artist John Blanco has essentially turned his bedroom into a gallery space (he lives in the closet) to showcase a variety of work in this unique venue.

Living directly with art is a completely different experience than seeing it for 5 minutes at an opening, and this particular installation thrives on the viewer spending extended time inside the installation. Waking up to the low hum/ hiss of the whirring tape decks that feed this installation, was the first time a great and disorienting experience. Forgetting about the piece living next to me, I awoke one day during gallery hours, and for a moment was under a spell where the house was alive and making sound. To further this thought, I cannot imagine this piece working as well in a typical gallery setting, since it makes the most sense to me in the context of a home, something to be experienced in relaxation with friends.

The piece consists of a giant blanket-dome that has speakers woven into it. On an adjacent wall are a variety of walkmans attached to an amp that supplies the sound for the speakers within the blanket. The viewer is invited to play with the sound (there are several tapes on the floor that can be exchanged for those already in use on the wall) and can adjust volume/ unplug and replug items to create a distinctly different sound atmosphere, thereby altering the experience had within the yarn-den. They can then sit under the blanket/dome and enjoy (or cringe at) the soundscape that they have created. Though the sound is available to manipulate, it still has the essence of Jacqueline within, since the tapes are composed of sounds that she has crafted.

The installation is partially psychedelic, and partially comforting (in the sense of a sitting underneath a giant grandmother style afghan). Those two elements combined give a strange sense of disorientation while also creating (for lack of a better term) a 'chill' space.

Along with discovering this work, an added delight is the possibility to engage in conversation with John Blanco under the blanketed sky about his plans for 'aLittleDisplay' and it's concurrent artist residency (yet to get off it's feet), as well as whatever else "Dream Blankets" may lead you to while under its influence.

John Blanco on living with "Dream Blankets": I feel like the host, the host of the love den, the mediator or gatekeeper for Dream Blankets. It's been an added device to entertain, and to have some good conversations related to the piece. I just like having Jackie's art in my room, it's very satisfying-I'm living in it, I've made out under it, I sleep under it"

http://www.alittledisplay.com/
(see website for gallery hours and directions)