Cold Front

P•P•O•W is pleased to announce "Cold Front", its sixth exhibition featuring the collaborative work of Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz. This exhibition is a continuation of their popular series of sculptures and photographs that subvert the conventions of the snowglobe. Also included will be a photographic panorama.

The snowscapes in these objects and photographs conjure up a host of unpleasant possibilities. A sense of sincere dread for what might be pervades these little worlds. Worse case scenarios are always in the offing or in progress. Displaced urbanites trek through frozen forests in total isolation or, worse, fall prey to various orders of predation. Barbarities abound: anarchy, ambushes or encounters with roving bands of vigilantes to name a few. 

Though the images are often dramatic and suggest narrative moments in critical transition, they resist definitive interpretation and remain open ended. The scenes are sometimes political, sometimes mystical with ample doses of gallows humor. In that sense they are related to Goya's Desatres de la Guerra as well as Los Caprichos. They also seem connected to a certain tradition of story telling: desolate enigmas such as Conrad's Secret Sharer, or outback nightmares like Flannery O'Connors' Good Country People or Paul Bowles' A Distant Episode come to mind.

As a point of emphasis, though, the wilderness is always the main character. The trees and the rocks bear silent witness and the ever present drifting snow promises to cover the whole catalogue of miseries and bizarre doings in a blanket of white. 

Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz have been collaborating since 1994 and have since exhibited internationally. Their work is in several museum collections, including Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid and La Caixa in Barcelona, Spain. In 2003 their bronze sculptural work was included in MetroSpective at City Hall Park, sponsored by the Public Art Fund. Their Travelers light-boxes where on display in Grand Central Terminal and will also be installed at the Wilshire/Normandie Metro Rail Station in Los Angeles. Additionally, a group of almost 200 bronze raven sculptures is on permanent installation in New York City's Canal Street Station.