Reed Barrow
Apophis 2029: 2+0+2+9=13

I Believe I Can Walk through Walls, 2005

Jack the Pelican Presents "Apophis 2029: 2+0+2+9=13," the New York solo debut of Reed Barrow. In this sculpturally dynamic show, the young sculptor brings good-natured, dopey bluntness to the rescue of pop bogeymen. These tame beasts, once emblematic of irrational fear, appear world-weary, sad and broken.  

This Morning I Woke up with a SoreThroat, 2006

There are three large sculptures. A chunky meteorite streams a fiery tail as it hurtles towards earth at breakneck speed. A werewolf dangles from the neck in a Native-American dreamcatcher. --This piece is entitled This Morning I Woke up with a Sore Throat. And a ghost prays under his white sheet while supporting on his head the crushing weight of a giant cement block. Barrow presents these stock characters with tenderness.


Meteor, 2006

The show's title, "Apophis 2029: 2+0+2+9=13," is telling. Initial tracking in 2004 of the near-earth asteroid MN4 suggested it would likely on April 13, 2029 collide with earth, ending the world as we know it. Its discoverers Tholen and Tucker fondly dubbed it Apophis, reportedly after an alien on their favorite TV series Stargate . But the name underscored the mythic dimension of this looming cosmic event. It is the Greek name of the Ancient Egyptian god Apep, "the Destroyer", who dwells in the eternal darkness of the Duat (underworld) and tries to destroy the Sun during its nightly passage. The doomsayers saw a horseman of the Apocalypse. As we know, 2+0+2+9=13, and it didn't look good. Fortunately, however, subsequent calculations appear to indicate that our fears are unwarranted. As of October 2006, the chances of a collision are virtually zero.

Reed Barrow, an Alabama native, received his Master of Fine Arts in May, 2006 from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an emphasis in sculpture, installation and performance. His work has recently appeared in the Amorph06 International Performance Art Festival in Helsinki and at In Flux Art in Thessanloniki, Greece. In 2005, he had solo exhibitions at Base Space and 2M, both in Chicago. A recent transplant to New York, he is expecting his first child any day now.