View of Tallur L. N.'s show "New Yorked," 2013. Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery.
Installed in both locations of the gallery, Tallur L.N.’s clever sculptures seem at first glance to carry some familiar messages about the vagaries of cultural tourism. A big log (from India) crashes into the head of a Buddha (stone quarried in China, statue made in Korea); visitors are invited to hammer coins into the wood, making wishes as they go. But the nuances ripple on and on in these impressively varied objects: slices of trees whose rings are replaced with intarsia of various species, a terra-cotta tiled roof peppered with figurines of yogis, branding irons with reliefs of various world currencies.