This is not
a visit to the stables, for the inhabitants are long gone. The relics are
freshly made as Cyril Aboucaya has researched, partly imagined and then
implemented them but displayed as if to tell the history of the building. If
everything was just left there it might or might not have looked like this. It
all does fit, which only adds to the disconcertment: even the non-graspable
components such as the scent of hey are carefully applied in order to evoke the
right associations. Allowing for instant recognition of what it is about, it
still is even further from the actual experience than, let’s say, a visit to a
museum that features original remnants of a scene. Old remains, when real,
often let one sense a strange connection to people that have already passed
away, for they have seen this very object and perhaps let their hand run over
its surface, it’s akin to tracing those people’s gaze and touch. The tension
between it seemingly being charged with history but featuring elements that are
recent, contradicts the visual cues of both, the past and the now. The fake antiquities
have been copied with modern materials, but he is also sidestepping contemporary
baldness associated with certain materials when used for art, such as concrete,
by coloring them. The staging of obviously newly made objects as remnants is somewhat
reminiscent of properties of a haunted house at an amusement park, due to
summoning the presence of deceased living creatures, the horses. Aboucaya emphasizes
today’s absence of immediacy generated by the increasing use of technological
devices and illustrates the emptiness we face in this void. Further he is
either amplifying this or suggesting that one can alleviate this condition, by
using simple as well as natural materials. There is moss he collected at a walk
in the forest mixed into the paint. Thanks to the humidity in the stables, it
will grow.
James Lewis’
work is concerned with failing of functions, especially those of the body.
Choosing to paint how the light is breaking at a particular moment through the
glass on the door leading to the stables, he was not only forced to move fast,
by failing to act as rapid as the fleeting moment passed, Lewis had to finish
the paintings at a different studio at a later time, relying merely on his
capacity to recall the instant. Knowing that memory changes over time and that
this undertaking is bound to fail, the artist is mirroring this by applying a
gelatin-like substance often used in scientific experiments named Agar-agar as
the very top coat on each painting. This agent allows for the breath of the
audience having a direct influence on the ultimate appearance of the paintings,
all depending on determinants such as how close the audience is getting to the
painting as well as what they have eaten previous to their visit. Finally the
surface will feature black mold like spots and will fossilize. From now on, the
artist won’t have control over the end result. Parts of the paintings are left
blank, other parts hold sketching, as if substituting the recollection and
expressing anger about this situation at once.
The
sculpture, consisting of bleached twigs and bones, somewhat resembling a fossil
ear left to itself, so that it cannot fulfill its function. Our ears, a body
part receiving sounds as well as acting as the centre of stability is in this
instance futile for it is unattached. The artist is forcing us to discard any
demands for usefulness and to be surprised by beauty in details one wouldn’t
expect to find it. Lewis is embracing the poetry latent in a miscarried deed,
and he prefers what objects enhance in the observant particularly if they are
not fulfilling their function.
No comments:
Post a Comment