Boston Globe
July 5, 2001
Galleries
Sacrifice and sound bites

By Cate McQuaid
Globe Correspondent

The Bromfield Art Gallery asked curator Lelia Amalfitano to jury a competition of young artists who have never had solo shows. Her selections are painter Amy Ross and performance-video-installation artist Ravi Jain.
Jain has created what he calls the Musuem of Transportation Pioneering, and he considers himself a transportation pioneer. He was one of the first to cross the Leverett Circle connector, and one of the first to ride Amtrak’s high-speed Acela train from Washington to Boston. He documents his journeys on video, with clips from TV news broadcasts, and with photographs of himself in special costumes for each trip.
The “museum,” with artifacts, photos, and a video, seems contrived. Jain’s true art lies in performance and in his self-conscious manipulation of the media at each event. They flock to him like flies, as you can see in the video. He lures them with his fancy get-ups and preplanned sound bites, which he repeats over and over, at once making himself into a celebrity and laughing at the hollowness of fame.

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