Anthony Goicolea, Anonymous Self Portrait, 2016. Graphite and turpentine oil on double sided frosted Mylar film with oil paint mounted to board
Anthony Goicolea looks for himself in “Pose,” his installation at Beverly’s Montserrat Gallery. He comes close to finding many of them.
Confusion intended. Goicolea divides the space into two mirror-image galleries, showing slight variations of his thoughtful, muted black-and-white creations in each. Images reflect off each other, encased in Plexiglas, creations that duplicate, or shadow, or slightly alter the originals in various exposures. Even the dark wall labels reflect and obscure details. Meaning must be searched for, puzzled over—not obtained.
A first-generation Cuban-American, who lives and works in New York City, Goicolea (b. 1971) has exhibited photographs, drawings/paintings and installations in a variety of international spaces. His presence in these galleries—another insightful installation at Montserrat—is a modest but significant look at the notion of self. Goicolea conjures a personal image, then molds, refines and obscures it, all at once.
These viewpoints are fabricated, exaggerated or imagined. If these are self-portraits, they are meant to conceal the self as much as reveal it.
The two galleries have similarities. Each a single square room, with wall images—call them “double exposures” for simplicity’s sake—peering down on floor installations. Both galleries have Plexiglas-mounted works, in repose on cinderblock “beds” (with pillows). The left gallery also has two portraits inserted into slits in granite boulders.
The resting drawings/paintings, some imaged on Mylar, create a skewed look at what “repose” might be. They offer guises, gestures toward “normal” views of the self, but with misplaced intentions or results. We look for the self, as does the artist, but we only find the not-self, or a self surrounded by illusions and near-selves.
The exhibition design mimics the work. Two doorways, adjacent, lead to discrete galleries separated by a black wall. You must see both, but can’t. Not in one view, at least. Entirely black-and-white, the rooms are spare. They almost feel incomplete, a sensation enhanced by the muted colors. Viewers feel an invitation to enter, but with some caution.
Politics and social concerns remain hidden, which is hard to accomplish in the current social climate, and especially surprising from a self-identified gay Catholic artist from an immigrant family who grew up in the deep South. That alone is instructive—the power of art to transcend the obvious.
The bisection of the galleries also pre-supposes ideas that don’t actually come to completion. With two galleries, showing slightly altered views of the same work, comparisons might seem inevitable. Instead, they are impossible. No statement is forthcoming, no hints or clues revealed by comparing the two spaces and the work inside.
The galleries don’t complement—they deepen the mystery that Goicolea invites. “Pose” suggests that the artist has stopped for a moment, and that in capturing that moment there is deeper meaning. But Goicolea’s “Pose” seems more like one moment on a journey.
“Anthony Goicolea: Pose” runs through Nov. 9 in the Montserrat Gallery. Admission is free. Visit www.montserrat.edu or call 978-867-9623.