Matt Bollinger, “The Reading Room,” flashe, acrylic, collage on unstretched canvas, 2014
Zürcher Studio
33 Bleecker St. at Mott St.
Tuesday – Sunday through January 30, free, 12 noon – 6:00 pm (Sunday 2:00 – 6:00)
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Matt Bollinger’s latest exhibit at Zürcher Studio, “Reading Rooms,” is highlighted by a pair of stunning large-scale canvases, “The Reading Room” and “The Reservoir,” that depict old bookstore shelves; in the former, the shelves are collapsing in on themselves, books, paper, magazines, and garbage strewn about, while in the latter, the shelves are still standing and full, with books piled on the floor, but in both cases it feels like it’s been quite some time since someone has been there. The two works set the stage for the rest of the show, as if all the other paintings are pages from books from these shelves, each merging Bollinger’s — and the viewer’s — past and present. “I used to work in a bookstore,” Bollinger says in a catalog interview for his spring 2014 show at Zürcher in Paris, which also included “The Reservoir.” He continues, “It had a mold-riddled basement that I was always eager to explore; you could find all sorts of stuff down there. I want this picture of a bookstore to operate as a reservoir. A holder, a backdrop, for all the other reservoirs in the show.” Now Bollinger has symbolically transformed Zürcher’s Bleecker St. gallery into a kind of psychological library, with works that are like pages from a book. Among the chapters of Bollinger’s tome are “Mayhem,” “Nancy (Reflection),” “Odd Jobs,” “Brian in Nancy’s Room,” and “Sheet Rock,” featuring repeating characters. In the back room, “Renovations” consists of twenty-eight smaller pieces arranged in rows, creating another kind of narrative; nearby is a painting of the book’s torn cover. However, despite the serious nature of the paintings and how they bring up thoughts of the future of libraries and bookstores and hard copy, Bollinger, who was born in Kansas City and is based in Brooklyn, also says in the catalog, “I’ve been thinking about the obsolescence of the paper book, but I don’t want the pieces to be laments. I want the work to present treasures, private discoveries.” There are many treasures and private discoveries to be found in “Reading Rooms.”