the march of time

In “Mike Kelley,” Jennifer Steinkamp masterfully uses digital animation to examine the boundaries between reality and illusion, nature and technology, and the natural and manmade. The repeated unfolding of the seasons in Steinkamp’s windblown tree points to the relentless march of time, and the reference in the title to one of Steinkamp’s important teachers alludes to the passing of generational time and knowledge. Yet, its cyclical format also disrupts our linear ideas about history, asserting the resilience of natural forms whose lifecycles cannot — or, perhaps more urgently, should not — be halted.

Curator
Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, curator of American art