Andy Vogt is obsessed with lath. People without this obsession may not know of the grand tension, the sense of the very Earth turning on its axis in space indicated by the existence of lath. Old walls are made of lath and plaster, while new ones are drywall; very nearly all walls are one or the other. As a conceptual base for art, it's big and good, as well as small and weird. At "Sustained Decay," Vogt and fellow deconstructioneer Joshua Churchill nose into the lath, the plaster, the drywall, and further: into the electrical wiring and stud patterns of the gallery itself, which is in the middle of a renovation. Vogt's customary site-specific naked-wood geometries mean he's the perfect person to sneak in after the contractors have been there. Churchill's previous work is similarly salvage-oriented, but with an emphasis on sound and light; his work at the Headlands Center for the Arts used hidden speakers and light sensors to play found sounds and "drones" in reaction to the changing light of an attic.
July 29-Aug. 16, 2009
