The Delicate Lash: The Art of Carol Bove

Carol Bove: Driscoll Garden: Installation 105 X 197 X 81.5

Carol Bove is one of my favorite multi-media artist for reasons both superficial and not so superficial. Because she is so delicate in her touch , it is easy to to get caught in the light sweep of her visuals but there is some serious bite in her references to the radical politics (sexual and otherwise) of the 60's and 70's. I'd give a left arm for one of her elegantly etched ink drawings but even more gripping are her installations.

Now here is where the superficial part comes in. I'm dreaming of a new pad as a counterpoint to my NY place (preferably in LA) and I'd love for it to look like a full on Carol Bove installation. It took five decades for the bourgeoisie to integrate abstract paintings into their everyday living rooms. I'm sure that in the future, every good orthodontist's wife will need a good conceptual "intervention" in the middle of the mid-cent mod split level. And Carol Bove's shelvings and hangings will be her text book.

Detail of Carol Bove's drawing Twiggy (2004, ink on paper, 22" x 14") from the cover of January 2005 issue of ARTFORUM