Developed in concurrence with the foil-embossed shopping carts and automobiles for which this duo is known, dozens of sculptures comprise Weppler and Mahovsky's installation, "Small Objects" (2004-6). All of the unassuming pieces are presented as stacks of two or more recognizable objects that collectively create a minimal cityscape. Though these works initially may be perceived as facile reductions of pop icons to their graphic essences, these hand-made ready-mades reveal sophisticated rewritings of the familiar. Each of the objects reads as a cipher and is rendered with a reduced language that functions not unlike icons by Roy Lichtenstein or Julian Opie. In the work of these artists, it is a wonder that meaning is conveyed in spite of their abstractions, and moreover, with a certain transparency.

Weppler and Mahovsky's "Small Objects" are either cut from wood or cast in plaster or resin. The indexical cast objects are the most intriguing, since, in a mode similar to Rachel Whiteread's work they are made from the objects that they represent. In many cases, the duo make forms from injection-molded objects, such as ice cube trays or Styrofoam cups, that result in uncanny casts from casts. The paradoxical plaster presences of Cup and Creamer are thus created. With legible details that include seams, dents and corrugations, at first the viewer takes the resulting forms to be the things themselves and not casts of negative space. This confusion is heightened by the artists, who may spray-paint the casts' sides to further suggest their signifieds. Baking Pan and Baking Pan , for instance, is two slabs of clear resin cast from it's namesake objects and painted silver on the sides and bottom; the nanometers thin paint appears to be materiality robust metal.

The carved objects are no less problematic, as they are mute boxes that convey information only through size, shape and color. A small, pink, trapezoidal prism evokes an eraser, the pastel colored cubes with white ovals are "full" tissue boxes. They become all the more "believable" when juxtaposed with the relative complexity and verisimilitude of the cast forms.

The artists use commonly available spray-paint in order to unify their palette and to be more evocative than descriptive. The same red suggests ketchup, the trade dress of the Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket, and Japan's Rising Sun. A characteristic burnt sienna calls to mind rusted cans and pails; a uniform black can imply a dark object such as a charcoal stick, "black" coffee, or an "unfilled" container."

William V. Ganis

Rhonda Weppler + Trevor Mahovsky is on view at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver from December 1, 2006 - January 14, 2007.