[THS] Altered States

[Peter Webster]

Altered States

http://www.easthamptonstar.com/dnn/Arts/ArtReview/tabid/5268/Default.as
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By Jennifer Landes
(4/16/2008)

	At first glance, it would appear that Adam Stennett relates
experiences from an entirely different world from the one you or I might
suppose we live in. Nonetheless, the conspiracy theories, easy-bake drug
culture, utopian notions, and paranoid fantasies he alludes to are in fact
hiding in plain sight on the left and right banks of the mainstream.

    With the ready access of the Internet and a little guidance in knowing
what to look for, one can find a veritable Baedeker of merriment and
mayhem with a few clicks of a mouse. In this case, Mr. Stennett is less a
guide than a traveler back from the trenches, ready to paint us some
postcards and share his vacation video.

    In his exhibit, aptly titled "Off the Grid," at Glenn Horowitz Bookseller in
East Hampton, Mr. Stennett brings these countercultural preoccupations
with homemade arsenals and psychotropic drugs out into the light and
addresses them in a number of mediums. It no doubt helps that Mr.
Stennett grew up in Oregon, where cults and conspiracy theorists have
been holing up in cabins and preparing for the apocalypse for decades.

    His acrylic paintings on paper adopt the style and traditions of the
classical still-life genre with some elements of popular branding thrown in to
make a larger point about the easy and commercial accessibility of over-the-
counter highs.

    In the bookstore's window a number of morning glory plants are thriving
with the assistance of two large grow lights. Packets of morning glory seeds
lined up in front show the eventual appearance of the blossoms. Mr.
Stennett offers two paintings featuring the flowers: "Morning Glory Flying
Saucers" and "Morning Glory Heavenly Blue With Gre­nades."

    Based on a quick, nonscientific survey of the Web, it appears the
Heavenly Blue and Flying Saucer varieties are the preferred source of the
seeds that can be extracted into an alcohol-based suspension supplying a
purported LSD-like hallucinogenic high. The seeds, naphtha, Everclear
grain alcohol, and pepper mill depicted are a visual recipe for making such
a distillation, the directions handily supplied on several Web sites.

    About three years ago, the seeds gained some notoriety on the South
Fork when a student at East Hampton High School was hospitalized after
eating a large quantity of them. Processing the seeds as suggested is
supposed to eliminate the negative side effects.

    The sources of other "legal highs" portrayed include cough syrup with
dextromethorphan, nutmeg, whipped-cream canisters, poppies and their
seeds, and salvia. The first three can pretty much be ingested as is, but the
last two are represented with the proper paraphernalia to extract their
mood-altering essences.

    It is certainly no surprise to most people that poppies are the source of
opium and other opiates such as heroin, OxyContin, and morphine. What is
surprising is how easy it is to buy dried poppy pods in bulk from sources
such as eBay. Poppy seeds are, of course, a staple on bagels and rolls as
well.

    These are not merely didactic exercises. The artist's sleek, mostly
monochromatic renderings of teapots, electric coffee grinders, hand-
cranked grinders, plant life, a mortar and pestle, and even the recurring
grenades are moody, evocative, and ultimately seductive. They represent a
world that should be off-putting, but has a stylized, alchemic purity. The
subjects are presented in a frank but glossy, high-end showroom mode that
makes consumption seem, if not necessary, then certainly desirable.

    In each painting, one element of color is introduced. Whether it is the
red of the spice, cough syrup, and whipped-cream containers, the green of
the salvia, or the blues of the morning glories, each shot of color is bracing
and seems to be a stand-in for human presence or activity.

    The mirrors, useful as a base for snorting, add an element of psychology
and a stylistic flourish. They seem to refer back to bravura attempts by
Netherlandish artists to capture complex reflections in looking glasses and
other polished surfaces (such as the mirrors in Jan van Eyck's "Arnolfini
Wedding" or later efforts by Jan Vermeer), much as the still-life
compositions themselves do.

    A tabletop display features a how-to video demonstrating the proper use
of a potato gun. The weapon is fashioned out of PVC pipes, an aerosol
propellant (typically Aquanet hair spray, but in this case, Right Guard
deodorant), a wand barbecue lighter for a spark, and a bag of potatoes.
It's a silly construct with a potentially deadly impact, and no waiting period
necessary.

    Mr. Stennett's installation includes an example of a gun along with a can
of Right Guard and a bag of Yukon Gold potatoes, in case anyone is
inspired to try it out on Newtown Lane. (For this reason alone, it's probably
a good thing the show is not up during the high season.)

    PVC pipes serve another purpose in Mr. Stennett's sculptural works. They
become forms for numbered jerseys that represent two soccer teams facing
off on an AstroTurf-covered floor. Team Millbrook stands in for the utopian
aspects of Timothy Leary's experiments with LSD conducted in the town of
that name in upstate New York. MK Ultra, the name of the opposing team,
was a C.I.A. program that conducted research on the potential use of
chemical agents, including LSD, by administering them to often
unsuspecting subjects.

    In a nice parallel between the allusions to drug-related conspiracy
theories and antigovernment extremists holed up in cabins in the Western
wilderness, it has been theorized that Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber,
participated in such experiments at Harvard.

    Mr. Stennett points not merely to the mind-altering outcome of such
trials, but to the aims and theories of those who set out to conduct them as
well, in a kind of yin and yang of psychedelic experimentation. Still, the
exercise is a little shallow despite its conceptual allusions. It helps that
Jeremy Sanders, who organized the show, has included some related titles
from the bookstore's inventory to give a proper context for the less visually
communicated ideas and references.

    Similarly, the video becomes a bit tedious after a minute or two of
watching. It's a neat and amusing trick, but not all that satisfying over the
long run, at least from a feminine perspective.

    All in all, it is a thought-provoking and, in the case of the paintings,
visually stimulating exhibit. Just how much more stimulating the show
ultimately might be is up to you. It is on view until May 27.