Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/520419
PHOTOGRAPHY MINDY BYRD FOR THE PHOTO DIVISION. PRODUCED BY MICHELLE AVIÑA. CONSUMING LIGHT In an extravagant but quiet homecoming, Whitney- and Documenta-exhibited Nic Nicosia was invited into a chamber-like room in one of America's top private collections. Patricia Mora explores the story of the Dallas native's commission for "Building 2" and the tale of Nicosia's 30-year friendship with his remarkable patron: Marguerite Hoffman, a regular on ARTnews' 200 Top Collectors in the world list, as well as the powerful past board chair of the Dallas Museum of Art. NIC NICOSIA EXPLORES TIME AND SPACE IN BUILDING 2. Describing Nic Nicosia's work installed in the Tower Room of Marguerite Hoffman's private gallery — which enjoys a perfectly situated space behind her residence, denoted within the household simply as Building 2 — puts one in danger of resorting to hyperbole. However, sometimes superlatives are warranted. The setting and the art are as akin to perfect pitch as you'll find anywhere on our spinning blue globe. And, moreover, they do nothing less than confront ultimate considerations, including the multiple aspects of time and the splendidness of perfectly designed space. The exhibition constellates one of those rare occasions when art is so ideally suited for a particular area that the experience becomes nearly operatic in its ability to move viewers emotionally and intellectually. While Nicosia has known Hoffman for almost three decades, the idea for this exhibition came about in Fall 2014. Soon thereafter, the artist began planning its meticulous execution. The year-in-the-making exhibition (which will remain in situ through the end of the summer) encompasses 12 sculptures, two framed drawings, a wall drawing, a box containing a small-scale version of the wall drawing, and 13 photographs. Nicosia's work in its current setting is a glorious collision of the here-and-now and the eternal. A theophany is how poets would describe the experience, had they been present. Literary figures and philosophers too numerous to mention would acquiesce to an understanding that these extraordinary moments are secular events akin to sacred rituals in every era that are meant to enact — how to put it? — consuming the gods. Think of it as eating light, devouring the infinite at the fringes of the finite and treating it with the same graciousness with which it is offered. In other words, being mindful of it as soulful, light-drenched sustenance. But there's more. On the slate path that meanders toward Nic Nicosia in the Tower Room of Building 2. Behind the artist, his site-specific wall drawing 2190 #5, 2015. ARCHITECTURE BILL BOOZIOTIS. INTERIOR DESIGN ANDRÉE PUTMAN.