July/Aug 2008

By Kathryn Hargreaves

Joshua Callaghan at Bank

Sometimes a masterpiece comes sized small, such as Meret Oppenheim's famous fur-lined teacup, or Hannah Greeley's "Muddle," where the shape of a sleeping dog emerges from a doormat. In both cases, the perfect materials were chosen. Likewise, Joshua Callahan's "Injury by Type" is a concrete pie chart with one wedge fallen out, rolling on its side. The chart itself looks to have just had an accident, and that wedge looks heavy enough to do some damage. It's this ability to evoke lots of layers that catapults an artwork into collective cultural memory, making it at least a mini-masterpiece. The whole show uses statistics, with which we know we can lie if we're not careful to portray them with Edward Tufteian clarity. Callaghan makes general hay of it all. The charred wood that makes up the chart "Military Spending by Nation" is clear meaphor, "U.S. Population by Race" puts the smallest wood block slice at the top, and the elegant thin steel curve of "Human Performance Under Stress" says: 'Your delicate. Know your limits.' Gold hay it is.