Cleveland-born, New York-based Dan Asher lives and works in an East Village apartment/studio. Although the 54-year-old artist didn't actually see the hijacked jetliners crash into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11 last year, he has followed -- with not a little consternation -- the many changes that struck his neighborhood, his city and his country in the aftermath of that day.
"Warped Universe(s)" is a mixed-media installation that gives form to some of the feelings and observations Asher has experienced and collected over the last 10 months. It is now showing at the Tomio Koyama Gallery in Shinjuku's Koto Ward.
Central to the piece is "Heroic Electronic Singing Bear Chorus" (2001), a row of 11 cute little teddy bears dressed up in firefighter, police and military uniforms. Squeeze the palm of a bear and it sings, in a tinny transistor voice, the final refrain from Lee Greenwood's post-Sept. 11 tribute song "God Bless the U.S.A.": "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died and gave that right to me . . . " No matter how quickly one activates the honor guard of singing bears, they won't all start their tunes at the same time, and as such the resulting chorus is out of time and dissonant.