{"id":3486,"date":"2013-09-24T11:14:58","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T11:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486"},"modified":"2013-09-24T21:28:44","modified_gmt":"2013-09-24T21:28:44","slug":"menial-and-romantic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486","title":{"rendered":"Menial and romantic"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A Mixture of Frailties, Susie MacMurray<\/p><\/div>\n

If you want to marvel at how rubber gloves and fishhooks can be turned into fascinating works of art, check out Susie MacMurray\u2019s current show at Danese\u00a0Corey<\/a>. The gallery opened in a new location only a few weeks ago. I stumbled onto it last Thursday while walking past its large street-level windows on West 22nd. I was on my guard against the cool, impersonal feel of the show, which at first had the familiar white-cube redolence of chilly and cerebral, high-end formalities, but it won me over. It\u2019s a beautiful show in a wonderful and much larger space than Danese used to occupy, and the place is perfectly suited to MacMurray\u2019s spare, less-is-more constructions. The artist\u2019s ability to create a sense of poised expectancy out of the most ordinary and humble materials is remarkable. She works in a repetitive range of shapes, using craft shop and household supplies: dollops and teardrops of wax, thin-gauge wire, hooks, hairnets, rubber kitchen gloves, air compressor hoses, and\u2014my favorite\u2014knitting pins. She returns again and again to a tight range of materials: fishhooks, wax teardrops and the knitting pins. In a few cases, her work reflects her previous career as a musician, such as the assembly of those pins \"dollops\"<\/a>bearing what look like conical spinning tops made of wax. Arranged in dozens across one wall, they suggest, collectively, the lines and clefs of musical notation. These slight, long pins have small eyes, like skewer handles, which she pierces with her fishhooks bearing much larger dollops of wax. Rows of those identical dollops dangle in mid-air like topsy-turvy raindrops\u2014or pendant earrings. Those pins, though, are alive. They bristle from a wall like acupuncture needles, arching as they seem to pull back against gravity.<\/p>\n

As in so much of her work, there\u2019s an energy in the paucity of means. The show is almost devoid of color: all black, silver, milk, cream, and gray. An emotional impact radiates quietly from the effect of seeing something that almost isn\u2019t there\u2014so much of the work relies on a sense of empty space around and within her shapes. What could be a black beehive with stinging defenders swooping down and out, leaving black trails in their wake, could also be a dead peacock, with only tiny fishhook eyes in its furled tail. The whole thing could also be a swollen cat \u2018o nine tails. Her work is often ominous and strangely sexual but always elegant and beguiling. The grandest of all is the life-sized formal gown she created out of 1400 latex work gloves. It flows down the hourglass torso of its tailor\u2019s mannequin, into which, presumably, each glove has been carefully stapled or glued. Only the fingertips of the gloves show in shingled tiers that flow downward to the floor and then spread out in all directions. It’s a dazzling transformation, and yet . . . all those fingertips with no one’s hand to hold. (There is another way to interpret those limp shapes as well, in just as forlorn a way.) There\u2019s a poignancy in her choice of materials\u2014 commonplace elements of manual labor, much of it for what used to be called \u201cwomen\u2019s work\u201d\u2014and when you recognize this, the show begins to glow with a kind of fairy-tale magic. In this room, a prince might turn his head to study a woman wearing the gloves she used to wash dishes for a thousand and one nights before she stitched them into a gown. (The drapes, apparently, weren\u2019t available.) Everything here has its own Cinderella resume, its own double life\u2014both menial and romantic. As in every good fairy tale, the enchantments have little hints of penalty around the edges, but they\u2019re harmless, fixed in place. The snake curled up on the floor has no head and only chainmail aluminum scales, assembled by hand. \u00a0The housework is only a dim memory.\u00a0The hooks and pins won\u2019t snag anyone\u2019s finger here where touching isn\u2019t allowed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you want to marvel at how rubber gloves and fishhooks can be turned into fascinating works of art, check out Susie MacMurray\u2019s current show at Danese\u00a0Corey. The gallery opened in a new location only a few weeks ago. I stumbled onto it last Thursday while walking past its large street-level windows on West 22nd. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMenial and romantic - represent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Menial and romantic - represent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you want to marvel at how rubber gloves and fishhooks can be turned into fascinating works of art, check out Susie MacMurray\u2019s current show at Danese\u00a0Corey. The gallery opened in a new location only a few weeks ago. I stumbled onto it last Thursday while walking past its large street-level windows on West 22nd. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"represent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-24T11:14:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-24T21:28:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/danese-1024x865.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"dave dorsey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"dave dorsey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"dave dorsey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57\"},\"headline\":\"Menial and romantic\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-24T11:14:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-24T21:28:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486\"},\"wordCount\":687,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/danese-1024x865.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486\",\"name\":\"Menial and romantic - represent\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/danese-1024x865.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-24T11:14:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-24T21:28:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/danese.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/danese.jpg\",\"width\":2869,\"height\":2426,\"caption\":\"A Mixture of Frailties, Susie MacMurray\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=3486#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Menial and romantic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"represent\",\"description\":\"the painting life\",\"alternateName\":\"the dorsey post\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57\",\"name\":\"dave dorsey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"dave dorsey\"},\"description\":\"I'm a painter living in Pittsford, NY. I've authored two books and also work as a ghostwriter. I sell my work through Oxford Gallery, and have exhibited around the U.S. and internationally.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.daviddorsey.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Menial and romantic - represent","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Menial and romantic - represent","og_description":"If you want to marvel at how rubber gloves and fishhooks can be turned into fascinating works of art, check out Susie MacMurray\u2019s current show at Danese\u00a0Corey. The gallery opened in a new location only a few weeks ago. I stumbled onto it last Thursday while walking past its large street-level windows on West 22nd. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486","og_site_name":"represent","article_published_time":"2013-09-24T11:14:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-09-24T21:28:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/danese-1024x865.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"dave dorsey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"dave dorsey","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486"},"author":{"name":"dave dorsey","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57"},"headline":"Menial and romantic","datePublished":"2013-09-24T11:14:58+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-24T21:28:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486"},"wordCount":687,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/danese-1024x865.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486","url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486","name":"Menial and romantic - represent","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/danese-1024x865.jpg","datePublished":"2013-09-24T11:14:58+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-24T21:28:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/danese.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/danese.jpg","width":2869,"height":2426,"caption":"A Mixture of Frailties, Susie MacMurray"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=3486#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Menial and romantic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/","name":"represent","description":"the painting life","alternateName":"the dorsey post","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57","name":"dave dorsey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"dave dorsey"},"description":"I'm a painter living in Pittsford, NY. I've authored two books and also work as a ghostwriter. I sell my work through Oxford Gallery, and have exhibited around the U.S. and internationally.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.daviddorsey.com"],"url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3486"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3517,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions\/3517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}