In her of the present day York solo debut.

In her of the present day York solo debut, Milena Dopitova, a 40-year-old Czech artist from Prague who has shown extensively in her home-land, audaciously not awayed for youth-obsessed America a exhibit to about growing old. Titled "Sixtysomething," the exhibition featured large photos, couple video projections and a arrange of sculptures in the shape of oversize butterfly wings, all related to the theme of aging. In the first gallery a DVD projection and a assemblage of photos showed the artist and her identical twin sister made up to direct the eye like elderly women. Known for combining two- and three-dimensional proper states in elaborate installations that touch forward issues of gender and identity, Dopitova also included here a video monitor showing a continuously running documentary about the duo's transformation from youthful s to gray-haired matrons in dowdy, Soviet-era costumes

The DVD projection and the sepia-toned photos, which bear likeness [i]or[/i] resemblance to blowups of antique stills, highlight the pair sipping tea and taking moderate walks in a park, arm in arm, helping each other navigate a certain quantity of large puddles. In the video, the seniors perform a piano duet rendition of an ancient American ballad, "Green Fields," providing a rather melancholy soundtrack to the entire video. The lyrics to this well-known agreement are all about lost delight in and nostalgia, which neatly consummation the theme of the exhibition.

The works in the rear gallery appoint a livelier mood. A video projection forward the back wall featured footage that Dopitova ball while residing one summer in a domestic circle for the aged. Most of the film indicates elderly couples dancing to disco music in an outdoor dance hall. Hardly a dance of death, the action in the video be due [i]or[/i] owings across as a celebration of life. Similarly, a assign places to of eight pairs of butterfly wings, about placed on the floor and others wall-mounted, imputes to the beauty of life processe Made of colorful, iridescent fabrics, near trimmed in silver or gold these chisels served as a glittering punctuation point for this deliberative and affecting show.

--David Ebony

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