Assorted Cocktail Re-view
With attractively garish work by photographer, collector and documentary film director Martin Parr, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art exhibits his vision of the colorfully banal and leeching nature of international communities. The Assorted Cocktail collection comes from an earlier series of environmental portraits concerning the much too comfortable displays of blatant vacationing life, the safe preference of a British community for their peculiar everydayness and wacky rituals, the kitsch items that exist for shallow memories to the visited location(s), and the vapid relationships that may result from varying efforts to bringing togetherness of people and places. These reflections of varying corners of the earth have in common the outlandish attractiveness that draws crowds of foreigners or tourists in or keeps its local inhabitants from getting out.
Though the imagery does not relate to the present time, the gaudy subjects understood through a photographic moment of apparent candidness reveals themes we are accustomed to seeing in real time today. As we laugh at the orange hued retirees of Florida, or knit our brow at the sight of naked children of western society playing on a trashed concrete beach, it is difficult to determine which recognition of the absurdity comes first: the pitiful truth or the ironic humor. The aesthetic of the loud colors as they relate to the various themes are regarded with slower observation on the viewer’s involvement with the scene, such as the wall of images of the ‘Common Sense’ motif devoted to souvenirs or location specific objects in the field of tourism. The genres of people attracted to this display of entertainingly unique and cultural world is comparable to the audience/viewer browsing the exhibition of this providing institution, fueling their feelings of superiority of the cultured self as we compare culture to the subjects within the image. We manage to find this sensation of pride by the images of the same objects that draw the tourist types like ants to a sugar skull in Mexico.
Intro to Higher Browsing
If there is a hierarchy of quintessential words gained for the purpose of transforming the art language and vernacular I possess for the better, and the better being the opening of possibilities to insight and creative benefit to this Prague experience, my being has (oddly) suffered as it equally benefitted from the gain of the flexible contemporary art practices and research that intertexuality and A/R/Tography can offer as mobility between artist and language, and art as a multidisciplinary field opens boulevards of thought. I, a burgeoning student of art and the contemporary history of, mention suffering (and now other similar terms such as ‘loss’, ‘longing’, ‘melancholia’), because one cannot gain knowledge (or anything) without there being an equal counter to the balance of the good. I have gained so much in the past that it has become necessary that I preserve my delicate sanity (what/where my productive hysteria and individualizing personality are dependents) against the loss and suffering, and other intimidating forces; humility as an indispensible virtue keeps my self in check, and as a receipt of accounts with people or inner dialogues, I keep a journal. There is no better text that will tell my history, a very specific knowledge that cannot be found in encyclopedias, in a dictionary, or popular searching resources (ie. Wikipedia). If a man can be an island, a woman can be her own cult. My project, Higher Browsing, explores the articles that the mind is bestowed with or seeks for personal benefit, intended for oneself whether exclusively or otherwise, as a woman may wear a garter belt and stockings for a necessary function while in public, or for the pleasure of having a secret when in Public.
[…]
Intertextualities strikes again!
“The sacrifice involved in castration is to hand over a certain jouissance to the Other and let it circulate in the Other, that is, let it circulate in some sense “outside” of ourselves. That may take the form of writing, for example, or of the establishment of a “body of knowledge,” knowledge that takes on “a life of its own,” independent of its creator, as it may be added to or modified by others.”
(will give credit to the writer when I find his name, but this is an excerpt from the chapter There is no such thing as a Sexual Relationship, from a book discussing Lacanian Theory)
and this is a painting I did, in sepia tone though (unfortunately this is the only picture I have of it. It relates to the reading, I’m quite sure)
Soundwalk
Sounds like…
…bananas …11″ boy hair …50041 … the breasts of others …gravity …over here …on the left, but in the right hemisphere …voids in small spaces + nose drainings + air drawing …yet another …rip …forbidden convos …temporarily headless ducks …simple identificators …being misunderstood …human attempt to control nature / …czech attempt to tame Vlatava …a river windsock …”fine.” …one less precaution to a drowning victim …being the first person in last place …a tree trying to be a flower bush …ROOOP …sleeping while standing …Dancer being a birdie …making haste …5 men, 10 rods …water spanks bridge …sudden elevation …capabilities …Gigolo 739323187 …familiar …physical removal …a pile of swept up poop …something is missing here …not-removal …a honey foam pot …a dog that hears more than sees …thirst …a dog’s calling/destiny for aggression …Hudson lake backyard …a swan sneeze! …swan eat swan poop …the self-conscious duckling …soundscape …scumdom …in-grown toe nail as a ghost …swan dividend …my first cubist building …the earth distills for me and you
Final progress Report
It is the end of progress reports, final reflections, but definitely not the conclusion of productivity. From my first artist’s statement, the main idea of capturing the reflections of everyday mirrors did not change, but the use of literal mirrors and a twist on the word ‘reflect’ for it to be an action that the individual performs strengthened the piece all together. I had some complex notions of incorporating figures in art history in subtle ways, or seeing the many reflections as countless little parallel universes, but considering that this is difficult to explain in words to begin with, I’m glad I decided not to attempt to go in these complicated directions that very few would understand by looking at an image. It was the simple, or the everydayness of some objects that influenced me to capture the images, and as I mentioned in my final artist statement, slow looking and observation of what I had captured dictated the direction and composition of each cluster of pictures. The tricks about the images (three portrait formats to make a landscape composition), their ease of transition from one image to the next, and the metaphorical qualities of turning their meaning to a heavier subject (the seasons of life, alcohol, sexuality, responsibilities, etc.) was an aspect that I, the composer, was surprised by. I am proud of my work because I managed to keep my personal style of images and aesthetics in general well represented. I learned also to listen better and to incorporate the opinions of others concerning my work. Otherwise, I would not have thought of grouping images that create many layers of meaning and intrigue, which is the most unique quality about my final pieces, in my final opinion.
Final Artist Statement
Inspiration for this series arrived by my practice of observing closely, slowly at visual details. I draw conclusions, make rational excuses for the relevancy of images to compare, expand and benefit one’s thought and whimsy. Thus, my images dwell upon varying surfaces and textures that interact with and reflect the socio-cultural sphere that they are found within; these textures and surfaces around Prague tend to serve as everyday mirrors (via wine glass of deep red merlot, rain water in a dumpster), and the subject I seek is the matter/activity of the reflective objects or surfaces (a 5 kč coin in white wine, cloudy sky on an advertisement board). The narrative qualities of composited images to reflect upon for meaning or relationship is the latter aim, or notion, to the initial intent of seeking the simple beauty of reflections in an urban society, by natural or artificial sources. The key term being ‘reflect’ influences the quality of attention and appeal in the scenarios depicted. As a noun (‘reflection’) or a verb (‘to reflect’), the dialogue amongst the three combined images create a visual conversation or code to solve, a minor accomplishment and a delightful pleasure that one can extract, considering that clever, simple amusements be your, the viewer’s, fancy. Themes include the seasons of life, alcohol, sexuality, responsibilities, the versatility of beauty in the everyday. The connecting aesthetics may be repetition and contrast of color and shape, continuation of line, and whatever else you may gain by slow looking and pensively reflecting.
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