THE NEW YORK TIMES — Slater Bradley by Benjamin Genocchio

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Slater Bradley by Benjamin Genocchio

An energetic jump-cut sequence in the opening frames of a work in Slater Bradley’s exhibition of six new, contemplative videos lingers briefly over headstones at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, among them the one marking the grave of the pioneer French filmmaker Georges Méliès. Perhaps it is coincidence, but several of the videos on display at Team Gallery refer to cinema. In “The Abandonments” (2005-6) a young man dressed as a dandy tap dances in the rain with an umbrella, an imitation of Gene Kelly in “Singin’ in the Rain.” In “Uncharted Settlements II” (2006), shot at a “Star Wars” convention at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, the camera follows someone dressed as a storm trooper mingling with devoted fans, also dressed as their favorite “Star Wars” characters. But the most adventurous cinematic reference is to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the inspiration behind “Dark Night of the Soul” (2005-6). The video tracks a figure in a space suit, above, wandering through the exotic scenery of the American Museum of Natural History after hours, to the poetic sound of a flute. The chic, odd camera angles suggest detachment, making the suited figure seem as if he were visiting some strange, remote world.

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