Would a trip through airport security be a little better if it looked like this? Roxy Paine, a New York artist, has painstakingly whittled every last detail of a TSA checkpoint, rendering everything from the X-ray monitor to the plastic boxes for our belongings in smooth, sanded maple.
The checkpoint (named Checkpoint) is part of the show “Denuded Lens“, which includes several examples of high-tech apparatus rendered in blonde wood. In fact, Paine creates a lot of machines as part of his work, special kinetic sculptures made to manufacture art. Here, though the process is reversed: It’s everyday technology frozen into a sculpture, which somehow makes it remarkable.
Checkpoint, 2014
This life-sized diorama of your local airport procedures — although, not, unfortunately, the Rapiscan machine — is the most arresting of his current works, if only for the fact that it almost makes the TSA procedures feel visually engaging. Here, one of the most poorly designed things on Earth is made to look beautiful. It’s as if you’re about to get frisked in a fine Finnish sauna.
Checkpoint, 2014 [detail]
Paine’s other work in the exhibition includes more mechanical devices, some used for surveillance, some not. All of them are delightfully intricate, and make us examine the level of craftsmanship in these seemingly mundane pieces of everyday tech. “Denuded Lens” is up through October 18 at Marianne Boesky Gallery in NYC. [Marianne Boesky Gallery, Village Voice,LA Times]
Scrutiny, 2014
Scrutiny, 2014
Machine of Indeterminacy, 2014
Machine of Indeterminacy, 2014
Pictures: Marianne Boesky Gallery