“Shredded Life,” by David Meanix

Capla Kesting
2007-04-01

When you play with masks, you‚re playing with fire. David Wojnarowicz, whose personal troubles couldn‚t not lead to haunting work, got away with it in the mid-80‚s. Saul Steinberg, with a paper bag and a pencil, transformed many a guest into a masterpiece. But this is very tricky business, like painting clowns, and one can easily make a melodramatic mockery of themselves if not careful, and deft. And David Meanix is both. His „photosculptures," meticulously conglomerated fragments of photographs that form faithful volumes of their subjects, are technically charming but they also speak, softly and subtley, in a way that makes you forget about their trickery and concentrate on their honesty. He has undoubtedly contributed a new species to the evolution of mask-making; it's a new breed, full of potential, and it will be interesting to see how it thrives.

—Rodger Stevens