S.A.D.

saw new york mag’s jerry saltz top art picks of the year, and one of them was klara liden’s show at reena spaldings, where liden packed a gallery with found, discarded christmas trees and a couch on which to reflect. couldn’t stop thinking about it. from saltz’s review earlier in the year:

“When I visited, I sat down fearing grubs and bedbugs, feeling lonely, unable to see anything but the trees in front of me, cocooned, a living chrysalis. I lost my center. Ghosts of this Christmas past appeared as noticed bits of tinsel, parts of ornaments, discarded strands of stuff. I thought of lives lived around these trees, desires met and not met, parents, children, being good or bad, arguments, gifts. Time tunneled. I thought of the fields cultivated for these trees; trucks bringing them to the city; temporary street economies; the trees appearing back on the street. It recalls the late Mike Kelley’s 1987 masterpiece More Love Hours than Can Ever Be Repaid, his large hanging assemblage of plush toys and its mystic recycling system.”