Abdel has constructed antibiotics to treat the violent tendencies of humanity. He thinks that he can save the world with his art (according to his opening lecture). The idea is to feed us little bits of violence and then we will not need to create it anymore. His show at the MIT List Gallery explores both pointless violence and violence with a purpose. He looks at necessary victimization – putting one’s self into another’s power in order to survive. These themes are explored through short looped videos projected onto all the walls of the gallery as well as shown on small television sets set around the floor interspersed with sculptures.
Born in war-recovering Algeria, Abdel is familiar with violence. He is careful to point out, however, that he is not a postcolonial artist. He is not taking a stance on international affairs and he is also not stuck in the national finger pointing game. During his lecture he said “Western guilt and culpability do not interest me”. He is simply showing us the basic, borderless human tendencies towards sadism and the reality of some violence being necessary. He is exploring the relationship between humans and aggression – along with the different forms that it takes.
To begin with, the pieces exploring necessary violence use animals as examples of necessary brutality. Birth of Love 2006 is a wall-sized projection of a feral cat graphically devouring a mouse. Muscles and ligaments slide around its lips and hang from its chomping jaws. There are several ideas at play here. One of them being violence for sustenance – in this case, violence towards the mouse. The violence for sustenance is then turned around when a series of feral cats put themselves in harm’s way in order to drink the milk being offered to them by Abdel in Self-sufficient sustenance through violence. Abdel calls this violence because the cats are subservient and “dependence on the kindness of others” for their food. It is strange that he picked cats drinking milk to prove this point. Prostitution gone wrong, or something where actual violence instead of the threat (a weak threat at that) of violence in order to obtain sustenance. Rape for food versus possibly being swatted by a human hand would be more appropriate – but I suppose it is aesthetically most fluid to keep it within the cat arena.
Unnecessary violence is his most interesting topic. Appropriately, he uses humans as the instigators for these acts. The comparison of animals committing violence versus humans committing violence is important in Abdel’s work. The conscious being (i.e. human) is capable of choosing not to commit violence and to find an alternative way to go about something. Also, we are the most diversely hedonists species. We do things left and right for our own pleasure. Humans do not prioritize necessity over pleasure. We can even go against functionality – like in the case of unnecessary violence. He makes this point with his installation piece, which consists of a series of human feet stomping on things that hurt them – for no apparent reason. One is a soda can. This is a pointless violent act, which will damage the foot and will therefore make it unable to walk for a while. He therefore, for the sake of pleasure (being art and social criticism in this case), depleted functionality. That is essentially human. Animals do not break their own feet. Animals are all superego. So, the conscious being is capable of performing unnecessary and unconstructive violent acts whereas animals cause harm out of necessity. The pointless harm of the other was shown through a piece where Abdel paid a black man to get milk continually and almost violently poured on him for a long time, so that he is gasping for breath and suffering quite immensely, stifled by the white liquid. It is very difficult to watch, particularly when acknowledging the unavoidable racial issues and the relationship to our recent history of slavery. This was a terrible thing to do to someone and there is motivation but pleasure through artistic engagement to do it
These pieces also raise the question about how different necessary violence and unnecessary violence for pleasure is. He did something wrong as an art piece to examine the foundation of ethics. These pieces suggest that ethical violations are as natural to humans as eating mice is to cats.
MIT List Visual Arts Center October 11th - January 4th.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Laylah Ali: Notes/Drawings/Untitled Afflictions
Laylah Ali: Notes/Drawings/Untitled Afflictions is the newest show of Laylah Ali. She combines her drawings with fragments of conversations she hear, newspaper clippings, things she things, plans for her art and other random things. These excerpts are numbered and laid over the images in a justified centered layout. Her writing is in script and hardly legible at times. The words do not make sense within or outside of context. Her images are mainly grotesque and cartoony. Many of her characters are wearing full-coverage clothing such as burkas and turtlenecks but the genitalia and /or breast are exposed. Many of the men wear burkas over their beards. Tribal imagery blends from many different cultures – notably Native American with lots of feathers and war paint; and Muslim with burkas of all different disciplines. Many of the characters have masks on. Some people are screaming within the burkas, which look like cages. Often their scalps are often peeling off – she details stubble on their hairline for a few inches before the hair starts. There are no titles. Each of the two rooms the show takes up have labels that say “All work Laylah Ali, 2008. Ink, Gauche, colored pencil and ball point pen on paper.” Many of the figures are deformed and missing limbs.
One piece depicts two figures on top of each other. He has scribbles where his penis would be, as well as a ripped pant leg and two leg clamps. She is wearing a headdress and her shirt has a section missing from it, exposing her breasts and belly. She has one leg that is combined in her skirt. His pants override the text in some areas, rendering it illegible. The text is as such:
165) Excuse me, how did you get into here? This is a private meeting.
166) You are my all-time favorite hands down
167) …. alleged truck noises
168)Fear of being splashed by road water, especially with malevolent intent
169) revenge is a bilist of #161
170) such is slashed times, a burnt house, a rowdy feline on a dark street
171) ignore him and ignore him too
172) I find your voice which lapses into a predictable monotone hard to listen to.
These pieces, as is evident, do not make sense and searching for meaning within the web of such absurdity is almost impossible, even for the most prolific art critics.
One of the more interesting pieces was of 2 men with their red gonads drawn in red over their stomachs. The gonad cords extend all the way down their legs, which is absurd. They have hijabs on which cover their mouths. Their chests are bare and they are wearing mini skirts. Because hijab are meant to cover the body, as are turtlenecks – the western version of a burka. The text reads:
151) Paul Wellstone?
152) Unable to recognize and thus defy enemies
153) unlivable
154) pregnant with potentially 7 mice
155) a removed expression on all of your characters
156) stickups
157) Taliban related stress versus Al Qaeida Stress
158) Bright’s Disease
159) Difficulty in denying reflexive image impulses
The image is especially absurd here. Gonads are extending to the feet, they are covering their mouths and noses but not their entire torso and they are wearing mini skirts in combination with their hijab.
Laylah Ali is intentionally confusing us. This show does not make sense. That is the point. We go into a gallery, which is a type of authority, expecting to derive meaning from pieces of art because that is what we do with art. She makes this essentially impossible. The point of this is to negate or at least question the effectiveness of language and imagery to convey messages. She is negating the authority of text and image. The curatorial statement says “ Language, too, is slippery. Like imagery, it relies heavily on convention and context.” Her work is a criticism of these tools as primary forms of communication. Ironic that she uses these tools to convey such a profound idea and she conveys it very effectively. She actually disproves her thesis by how well her point is conveyed.
Through the hybridized characters that blend ethnic imagery, Ali seems to be eliminating borders as she criticizes the communication tool our world uses to mediate between these borders (namely imagery and text). She essentially blends all arbitrary categories and signifiers into a vat of ugly nonsense.
The Decordova Museum August 30th – January 4th, 2009.
One piece depicts two figures on top of each other. He has scribbles where his penis would be, as well as a ripped pant leg and two leg clamps. She is wearing a headdress and her shirt has a section missing from it, exposing her breasts and belly. She has one leg that is combined in her skirt. His pants override the text in some areas, rendering it illegible. The text is as such:
165) Excuse me, how did you get into here? This is a private meeting.
166) You are my all-time favorite hands down
167) …. alleged truck noises
168)Fear of being splashed by road water, especially with malevolent intent
169) revenge is a bilist of #161
170) such is slashed times, a burnt house, a rowdy feline on a dark street
171) ignore him and ignore him too
172) I find your voice which lapses into a predictable monotone hard to listen to.
These pieces, as is evident, do not make sense and searching for meaning within the web of such absurdity is almost impossible, even for the most prolific art critics.
One of the more interesting pieces was of 2 men with their red gonads drawn in red over their stomachs. The gonad cords extend all the way down their legs, which is absurd. They have hijabs on which cover their mouths. Their chests are bare and they are wearing mini skirts. Because hijab are meant to cover the body, as are turtlenecks – the western version of a burka. The text reads:
151) Paul Wellstone?
152) Unable to recognize and thus defy enemies
153) unlivable
154) pregnant with potentially 7 mice
155) a removed expression on all of your characters
156) stickups
157) Taliban related stress versus Al Qaeida Stress
158) Bright’s Disease
159) Difficulty in denying reflexive image impulses
The image is especially absurd here. Gonads are extending to the feet, they are covering their mouths and noses but not their entire torso and they are wearing mini skirts in combination with their hijab.
Laylah Ali is intentionally confusing us. This show does not make sense. That is the point. We go into a gallery, which is a type of authority, expecting to derive meaning from pieces of art because that is what we do with art. She makes this essentially impossible. The point of this is to negate or at least question the effectiveness of language and imagery to convey messages. She is negating the authority of text and image. The curatorial statement says “ Language, too, is slippery. Like imagery, it relies heavily on convention and context.” Her work is a criticism of these tools as primary forms of communication. Ironic that she uses these tools to convey such a profound idea and she conveys it very effectively. She actually disproves her thesis by how well her point is conveyed.
Through the hybridized characters that blend ethnic imagery, Ali seems to be eliminating borders as she criticizes the communication tool our world uses to mediate between these borders (namely imagery and text). She essentially blends all arbitrary categories and signifiers into a vat of ugly nonsense.
The Decordova Museum August 30th – January 4th, 2009.
Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body
Black Womanhood is an exhibit dealing with cultural ideas about the black female body. It explores the perceptions and stigma around this subject from the archeological sculpture that ideas of African tribal realities were based on to contemporary international multimedia works about the topic. The exhibit, within the black female context, deals with many other issues such as motherhood, sexuality, social requirements and effects on black women. The show was powerful and witty.
Most of the wit is due to iconoclast Renee Cox. The two pieces she showed were the best pieces there. Her Hot-En-Tot piece was a powerful mockery of the world’s fascination with what is perceived to be the universal black female body. Her piece is a response to a wretched story of Sarah Baartman, a 19 year old African woman who was taken from Africa, showcased as a freak for her body shape (which was very different from that of the British) and eventually had her body parts showcased in jars in a French museum. She was known for her giant buttocks and vagina. Her vagina was returned to South Africa for a proper burial as late as 1994. She is the symbol of the West’s attitude towards black female sexuality and humanity. So Miss Cox decided to put on a bikini made of plastic with which is the shape of the Hotte-En –Tot’s body and look seductively at the camera. The idea is to re-sexualize Sarah Baartman, who had been turned into a specimen for study. It is also taking a stab at the idea that all black women look like that. Cox’s body, being thin and small, contrasts dramatically with the Sarah Baartman bikini, contradicting the stereotype. Her other piece wins the prize. It is truly hilarious, sexy and the ultimate fuck you to stuffy Caucasian art history. Baby Back (2001) depicts Cox, with her back to the camera, lying on a sensual yellow day bed, with hot red patent leather shoes on, mimicking Ingres’ famous Grande Odalisque (1814) – but instead of a duster, she holds a very intimidating whip. So first, having turned her back of the viewer, she is no longer objectified and couldn’t care less about them. Second, she is sexing it up with the shoes and her posture. However, no one dares come near her because of that whip. Its her essentially torturing the viewers and addressing the centuries during which black women were not holding the whip and were under the whip in sexual interactions as well as everything else. This historical context gives her even more power. It feels even more likely that she would use it because black women never got to. Besides the amazing conveyance of concept, this photograph is formally perfect. The color dynamic and a-symmetry is to die for – and the yellow color of that bed – mmmmmmm.
Wangechi Mutu’s Double Fuse plays with the lioness idea of black women. Her half human half animal characters are very sexy but have leopard print all over their bodies. This is an interesting choice given the stereotype of African women as animalistic. Cox and her, however, are reclaiming and sexualizing stereotypes in their pieces and its very effective.
Kara Walker unfortunately only had a popup book in the show from 1997. As usual, though the beautiful paper work and composition draws you in and then you can’t sleep for weeks due to what you make out of the confrontational Rorschach shadows. Bernie Searle had an interesting piece from Traces for the Color Me Series is a series of photos in two rows suspended from the ceiling. The back row is photos of her naked and covered in spices of different colors. Then the front row was photos of each of those same spice covering colors, but she had gotten up and left a spice angel on the white ground. “The presentation and absence of the body in the work points to the idea that identity is non-static”. Writes Bernie Searle
The show is very intense and very funny. Tears and cackles alike will be induced. The formal and installation atmosphere is also quite stunning.
Davis Museum and Cultural Center September 27th-December 14th, 2008 www.wellesley.edu/DavisMuseum
Most of the wit is due to iconoclast Renee Cox. The two pieces she showed were the best pieces there. Her Hot-En-Tot piece was a powerful mockery of the world’s fascination with what is perceived to be the universal black female body. Her piece is a response to a wretched story of Sarah Baartman, a 19 year old African woman who was taken from Africa, showcased as a freak for her body shape (which was very different from that of the British) and eventually had her body parts showcased in jars in a French museum. She was known for her giant buttocks and vagina. Her vagina was returned to South Africa for a proper burial as late as 1994. She is the symbol of the West’s attitude towards black female sexuality and humanity. So Miss Cox decided to put on a bikini made of plastic with which is the shape of the Hotte-En –Tot’s body and look seductively at the camera. The idea is to re-sexualize Sarah Baartman, who had been turned into a specimen for study. It is also taking a stab at the idea that all black women look like that. Cox’s body, being thin and small, contrasts dramatically with the Sarah Baartman bikini, contradicting the stereotype. Her other piece wins the prize. It is truly hilarious, sexy and the ultimate fuck you to stuffy Caucasian art history. Baby Back (2001) depicts Cox, with her back to the camera, lying on a sensual yellow day bed, with hot red patent leather shoes on, mimicking Ingres’ famous Grande Odalisque (1814) – but instead of a duster, she holds a very intimidating whip. So first, having turned her back of the viewer, she is no longer objectified and couldn’t care less about them. Second, she is sexing it up with the shoes and her posture. However, no one dares come near her because of that whip. Its her essentially torturing the viewers and addressing the centuries during which black women were not holding the whip and were under the whip in sexual interactions as well as everything else. This historical context gives her even more power. It feels even more likely that she would use it because black women never got to. Besides the amazing conveyance of concept, this photograph is formally perfect. The color dynamic and a-symmetry is to die for – and the yellow color of that bed – mmmmmmm.
Wangechi Mutu’s Double Fuse plays with the lioness idea of black women. Her half human half animal characters are very sexy but have leopard print all over their bodies. This is an interesting choice given the stereotype of African women as animalistic. Cox and her, however, are reclaiming and sexualizing stereotypes in their pieces and its very effective.
Kara Walker unfortunately only had a popup book in the show from 1997. As usual, though the beautiful paper work and composition draws you in and then you can’t sleep for weeks due to what you make out of the confrontational Rorschach shadows. Bernie Searle had an interesting piece from Traces for the Color Me Series is a series of photos in two rows suspended from the ceiling. The back row is photos of her naked and covered in spices of different colors. Then the front row was photos of each of those same spice covering colors, but she had gotten up and left a spice angel on the white ground. “The presentation and absence of the body in the work points to the idea that identity is non-static”. Writes Bernie Searle
The show is very intense and very funny. Tears and cackles alike will be induced. The formal and installation atmosphere is also quite stunning.
Davis Museum and Cultural Center September 27th-December 14th, 2008 www.wellesley.edu/DavisMuseum
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