Los Carpinteros, ‘La Montana Rusa,’ at Sean Kelly Gallery

For ‘Time Out New York’ Magazine, April 2008

After seventeen years of exhibiting, including a memorable installation at PS1 in 2001, it’s surprising this is only the Cuban collaborative’s second New York gallery show.  New Yorkers have missed out if these five new sculptures plus a suite of watercolors, which blend subtle politics, surreal domestic furniture and architectural models, are anything to go by.
 
Los Carpinteros’ typical sculpture is minimal, large and makes obvious references that put it at risk of seeming simplistic were it not for underlying Cuban references that add a rewarding complexity.  The show’s centerpiece, ‘La Montana Rusa,’ (2008) a long, undulating bed resembling a roller coaster, brings to mind the hair-raising and uncontrollable aspects of dreams.  But read its ‘socialist’ pink color as political metaphor and it becomes a timely reminder of Cuba’s present uncertain leadership.
 
The show’s other sculptures are portals into mysterious, dream-like worlds:  A replica swimming pool with increasingly deeper chambers arranged like the layout of a house recalls the still, eerie mood of James Casebere’s photos of flooded architectural models.   Three large bookshelves resemble Crate and Barrel fare but have wavy distortions that make them appear as if they were underwater or a hallucination.
 
Eleven watercolor drawings include buildings in the form of meat cleavers and a basketball court whose backboard arches like the trajectory of a ball.  More bizarrely imaginative for not being practical enough to realize as objects, they continue Los Carpinteros’ contrast between menace and amusement, adding another edge to their provocative body of work.