Category Archives: museum

Puppets as dramatis personae: Wael Shawky at MoMA PS1

Posted on by
IMG_5313

Installation view, “Cabinet Crusades” at MoMA PS1

Puppets. Not something I’d normally be fascinated by, but the marionettes Wael Shawky uses to populate his complex historical videos are fantastical, gorgeous works of art in themselves. “Cabaret Crusades” at MoMA PS1 presents the artist’s trilogy of videos that recount the history of the Crusades from an Arab perspective and in addition displays the numerous puppets themselves. The glass puppets in his most recent video especially move in a particular, haunting way and make a kind of clicking sound. Never do you forget that you are watching a performance in the face of such clear artifice, but the enigmatic faces of these human representatives, aided in part by soulful singing, bring distant history into the realm of pathos.

Puppe_007

Marionette from Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades: The Secrets of Karbala. 2014. Courtesy the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut / Hamburg. Photo: © Achim Kukulies © Art Collection NRW, Dusseldorf.

I happily spent a few hours watching these tales of conflict unfold, and it is not difficult to see parallels in contemporary instances of cultural differences, mistrust, violence, and greed. Puppets and pathos–maybe not what you might expect from a retelling of the Crusades, but well worth an afternoon. On view through August 31st.

Wael Shawky. Film still of Cabaret Crusades: The Horror Show File, 2010. HD video. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Sfeir-Semler.

Wael Shawky. Film still of Cabaret Crusades: The Horror Show File, 2010. HD video. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Sfeir-Semler.

 

All in the Eyes: Laurie Simmons at the Jewish Museum

Posted on by
Installation view of Laurie Simmons: How we See at the Jewish Museum

Installation view of Laurie Simmons: How We See at the Jewish Museum

It’s all in the eyes. The exhibition Laurie Simmons: How We See at the Jewish Museum, on view through August 16, features large-format glamour shots of professional models. With careful lighting and glowing color background, these are clearly staged representations of beautiful young women, just as you might see in a magazine advertisement, but larger. These headshots tower over the viewer at 70 inches high, adding to the impact when you gradually realize that the eyes are a little…off. It’s disturbing. As I stood there, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why the eyes were strangely textured for at least two minutes. Then a lightbulb went off: the eyes of the model were shut and the lid painted to resemble an eye.

Hero, 2015

How We See/Lindsay (Gold) (2015)

Simmons describes being interested in “doll girls,” women who make themselves up to resemble dolls, but that is almost the least interesting of the implications that these visually-impaired subjects have. Given that the staring eyes of the model are blind, the title of the exhibition–“How We See”–takes on new meaning. The seeing party is us, the viewers, rather than the models. This system of gazes exposes the inherent dynamic between the viewer and every work of art. We look at the art, and are presented with the illusion of a person or world that could look back at us.

It also exposes a societal bias to consume women as images, without empowering them with the ability to return the gaze (and upset those power relations). The size of the images gave weight to those readings. Even monumentalized, the seemingly inanimate women remain only larger dolls to be looked at. I found the flashy smiles and glowing backgrounds quickly became monotonous, even boring. While strong individually, the repetition of the still, theatrical images in the exhibition turns the overall effect almost banal. I’m not sure whether this result intentionally mimics the source material of advertisements being evoked or if it is an unfortunate side effect.

The New Whitney Building

Posted on by

IMG_5215

The new Whitney building has been well-discussed elsewhere, but let me just say, it was a pure pleasure to visit it today. Not least because of the way the building incorporates itself into the neighborhood and the colorful Mary Heilmann chairs (a temporary work entitled Sunset) meant to encourage hanging out. Inside the building, the exhibition of the re-installed permanent collection, “America Is Hard to See,” looks fantastic. Admittedly the current crowds make it a little harder to appreciate all the works on view, but I look forward to going back soon.

IMG_5216