Tim Thyzel @ cynthiabroan.com

Perhaps the most remarkable amalgam of repetition and transformation is Devorah Sperber's "Shag Rug 165,000," a full size recreation in pipe cleaners of Jackson Pollock's "Autumn Rhythm." The synthetic colors, identical textures and uniform size of the 165,000 pieces wired chenille are obvious. But viewed in a convex mirror mounted in a strategic position, the rug becomes a convincing image (albeit in reverse) of Pollock's painting, like a slide projected backwards. Ms. Sperber has simulated Pollock's spontaneous energy.


	Accumulations by Helen A. Harrison The New York Times, Long Island Edition Sunday, October 13, 2002
More is More: Repetition Adds Dimension to Patterns
'Accumulations' Islip Art Museum, East Islip, Through Nov. 17 (631) 224-5402 The obsessive collection of things, whether objects, images or ideas, is the common practice of the 11 artists whose work is featured here. But their collecting is not simply an end in itself. In the words of the show's curator, Karen Shaw, "the elements are merely the building blocks for something so much more meaningful."
In a few pieces, repetition of very similar components creates the kind of subtle rhythmic variations one finds in Philip Glass's music. Herman Costa, for example, arranges strips of photographs taken in public photo booths to establish a grid structure for compositions that evolve from frame to frame. Some, like his bowl-and-drapery still life, are static to the point of inertia, until one studies the small variations of the light that sensuously articulate the objects in space.
Transformation is a primary strategy for several of the artist, including Tim Thyzel, who has cast bleech bottles in plaster and clustered them to resemble crystal formations. His plaster casts of dust masks, like Mr. Costa's photographs are all the same yet different, in the way fingerprints resemble each other but are in fact unique. What appears to be barnacles in Elise D'Arrigo's drawings are collaged layers on ink-stained paper, with the buildup of translucent surfaces resulting in almost three-dimensional effects.
Perhaps the most remarkable amalgam of repetition and transformation is Devorah Sperber's "Shag Rug 165,000," a full size recreation in pipe cleaners of Jackson Pollock's "Autumn Rhythm." The synthetic colors, identical textures and uniform size of the 165,000 pieces wired chenille are obvious. But viewed in a convex mirror mounted in a strategic position, the rug becomes a convincing image (albeit in reverse) of Pollock's painting, like a slide projected backwards. Ms. Sperber has simulated Pollock's spontaneous energy.