George Khut: new work, in passing
Virginia Baxter
Wendy McPhee, George Poonkhin Khut, Nightshift
Whenever you attend a show at Performance Space, you walk along a corridor either side of which are small gallery spaces. Sometimes the rooms are crammed with people attending the opening of an exhibition. At other times a solo artist like Jonathon Sinatra can be observed making work in progress. Sometimes you stop and watch for a while on your way to the box office. Sometimes you simply walk past.
On the way to Eat My Shorts, I happened into George Khut’s installation and almost missed the show I’d come to see. To describe the elements gives little sense of their combined effect. In the dark, on 2 lightweight screens are projected black and white images of the dancer Wendy McPhee. Layered over her fragmented movement is a flickering text. Words and limbs fly as in some wild rewind to a score that sounds like film spooling or slides shuddering and with a hint of distant voices.
Sitting at either end of the installation my eyes choreograph a subliminal dance from a language of barely detected forms and lightning fast words, sometimes projected backwards. George Khut has plans to extend this work and show it more extensively. It certainly deserves a longer look and a wider audience. Like so much impressive work being created these days, this one surprises us as it comes into view, briefly flares and leaves only a light trace.
New Work, George Poonkhin Khut with Wendy McPhee, Carnivale, Performance Space
RealTime issue #46 Dec-Jan 2001 pg.
