Rico Gatson, at Ronald Feldman

For ‘Flash Art’ magazine
For the final show of the gallery’s 30th anniversary year, Ronald Feldman F.A. proved its vitality with an exhibition of videos by young artist Rico Gatson. Gatson, a standout in last summer’s popular ‘Freestyle’ group show in Harlem, delves into the Hollywood archives for his material. Using video editing software, he selects films as diverse as ‘Alien’, ‘King Kong’ and ‘Superfly’ and then subjects them to an editing process in which a quarter of the film screen is mirrored, resulting in an intense, kaleidoscopic effect. The show stopper is ‘Departure,’ in which Gatson condenses a scene from the movie ‘Alien’ into an intense series of pans and zooms featuring the determined but petrified protagonist as she exits the exploding ship. Another highlight, “Jungle, Jungle” presents two sequences of human sacrifice made in the 1933 classic film ‘King Kong.’ Gatson maintains a dual focus on the representation of African Americans in film, and on the many faces of fear. Whether the videos feature a giant, raging gorilla, or a gruesome alien, the result is a mini-lexicon of terror that forces viewers to confront their own fears – a task which is never more relevant than now.

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Merrily Kerr

Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education. For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine. Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)