Assembly Instructions, installation view

Assembly Instructions is the second solo show for Brooklyn-based artist, Alexandre Singh. For the audience that is drawn to technophobic savvy collage techniques, [myself included], Assembly Instructions continues to embrace Singh's photocopy chic aesthetic. I was lucky enough to catch a talk by the artist at the opening of his show. Accompanied by three overhead projectors, Singh translated the concept for his show by walking the audience through his own mental conduit. Assembly Instructions is an installation of over 120 framed works that map out a series of tangential associative thoughts expounding from one initial thought. In the case of Assembly Instructions, the artist assigned himself 'San Francisco' as a point of departure, which seemed to be neutral enough and pretty relevant for an out-of-towner. Each work sequentially builds on the previous and represents a single idea or blend of ideas that Singh produces in making an association from the previous idea.

Assembly Instructions, artist talk

When dealing with associative thought, no detail is too small or too obvious to be examined. For the audience, the installation of Assembly Instructions automatically resembles a map or a framework. The audience can then make the association that the content of the show is about a systematic relationship between the separately framed images. There are meticulously dotted lines connecting the individually framed works, serving as a visual clue that these are (1) connected, and (2) moving in a lateral, probably chronological sequence; as the majority of the lines are horizontal and the width of the space wrapping around the gallery is more significant than the height of the walls in which the works are hung. We can also make an association that the works are part of a series in which there is no real focal point. They all rest in the same, white frames, and are consistently and equally comprised of black and white Xerox copy collage [some maybe with addition of white correction tape]. While certain framed works may be more aesthetically appealing, the attention by the artist to each image is pretty fairly distributed and because all the works relate to another, they are all extensions of each other. There was a soft sweet bunny popping out of a hat in one image. I so badly wanted to take the piece off the wall and squeeze the life out of it...but I didn't. And I knew that this piece was not particularly significant and so I dealt with my urge in a socially acceptable manner.

Assembly Instructions (Tangential Magick), detail

Like me with my urge to suffocate innocent animals, Alexandre Singh practices the art of restraint in his collage compositions. It is evident in his work, that he is more than capable of creating aesthetically pleasing formal compositions. But he chooses not to fully exercise this urge. He inserts just enough aesthetically pleasing imagery to (1) maybe sell individual pieces, and/or (2) maintain the attention of onlookers long enough the move to the next piece and/or be mindful to the fact that, in combination with this visual component, there is a larger, possibly more grand conceptual component at work. Singh's work, even outside of Assembly Instructions, like many artists working with collage, seems to naturally embody associative thoughts in juxtaposing various imageries. Singh was successful in relaying associative thought to the audience by inviting them to share his associations with thoughtful image choices. Singh fluidly mixed two variables of imagery: iconic imagery that carries strong representational qualities for universal, historical or pop culture-inspired ideas and contemporary tidbits of imagery from our daily lives in which we take for granted that mark our time in history. This accurately reflects the aspect of human thought that constantly shuffles between observation and contextualization in life.

Assembly Instructions (Tangential Logic), detail

Assembly Instructions applies a logical system for the way we seemingly illogically tangent into surreal associative thoughts. Singh described that there are basically three axis from which his thoughts germinated. From here, there are subsets of thought and so forth; leading to an exponential flow of ideas and information. Although the walls are basically filled with this 'mental map', the gallery inevitably constrains a truly accurate depiction of the complex nature of tangential thought. Singh validated the simplification of the visualization by limiting the input of information to a single external controlled factor: San Francisco. The information thereafter is from his associative thoughts. This loose representation is an abbreviation or framework, from which, no doubt a cornucopia of unrepresented thoughts that are either undeveloped, subconscious or repressed, exist like invisible fibrillae. In focusing on just tangential thought as opposed to the inclusion of other modes of thought, Singh narrowly missed the nightmarish task of depicting the following: dissipating, encircling, web-like, doubling up, discarding, meta-cognition, forgetting, accepting...

Overall, the formal qualities of Singh's work are more than satisfying. The compositions of the individual collages appear to be as intuitively assembled as they were conceived. Additionally, the concept and execution of Assembly Instructions endorses the unimportant, fragmented thoughts of the artist. It does not need to rely on an oblique reference to a re-examined scientific theory, philosophical movement or political issue for validity.

Assembly Instructions is on view at Jack Hanley Gallery through November 29th, 2008.