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The Buffalo News
GRIPPING CONCEPTS
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WHEN: Through Feb. 1 WHERE: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave. ADMISSION: $6; $5 seniors and students; 12 and under free INFO: 882-8700
The title of the now-legendary performance was "Shoot," and
Burden was both artist and deliberate target. Whatever side you fall on in the self-mutilation-as-art debate, it's hard
to deny the intensely compelling nature of Burden's breakthrough work. Yet,
aside from a few blurry photos and the faded memories of those who were there
to witness history, the moment exists today primarily in the minds of people
who have only heard of it. Artist Janine Antoni has been generating her own share of art-world
ripples since the early 1990s with a series of elaborate conceptual works
that, while decidedly more genteel than Burden's early efforts, are
nevertheless deeply compelling. An exhibition of four ofAntoni's pieces titled "Janine Antoni:
Incarnate" is currently on exhibit in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery,
where the artist recently spoke before a sizable crowd. Antoni believes that "Shoot" -- and other works by the
conceptualists of the 1970s -- are compelling precisely because most of us
never actually witnessed them. Instead, we rely on oral descriptions that
produce a kind of cognitive dissonance between the intensity of the process
and the deadpan artifacts that remain. Resolving this conflict actively
engages viewers' minds. With "Saddle," a sculpture of haunting lyricism, Antoni also
compels the viewer to fill in what is, literally and figuratively, not there.
It's comprised of a single cowhide, which has been tanned while draped
over a cast of the artist on her hands and knees. Cast removed, the
translucent skin remains contoured to the form of the absent body, creating
something of a ghost figure. Antoni is, in her own words, "shrouded in death," yet she is
also cocooned in a metaphorical embryonic sac. Gradually, the viewer begins
to associate the absence of the human figure with that of the cow. "Saddle," like all of Antoni's work, addresses several issues
simultaneously from a myriad of personal passions and art-historical
precedents. Her themes include: gender and feminist issues, biological
cycles, nurturing, human/animal interaction and the fear of death, among
others. Her work tends to prompt a stream of associations in the viewer,
which unfold over time -- some intended, others created by the viewer. "Umbilical," for instance, is a small spotlighted silver
sculpture consisting of the cast interior of Antoni's mouth gripping the end
of a monogrammed spoon (from the family's heirloom silver). At the spoon's
other end is a negative cast of the space within her mother's hand. The evocative title generates vivid associations of mother-child connections,
the monogram suggests bloodlines, and once again the viewer must fill in what
is missing: the mother and the daughter who is being nourished. The casting is just one in a diverse array of media Antoni has used in
producing her heavily process-based works. She has gnawed 600-pound blocks of
chocolate and lard, attached herself to a polysomnograph to measure her REM
sleep and painted gallery floors with her hair. In contrast, the remaining two works in the exhibition are comparatively
conventional photographs. One of them is of Antoni in a bathtub (used in a
barn as a water trough); a cow leans down and nuzzles her. The position of
the cow's head suggests that Antoni is nursing her, and the artist's placid
expression supports the impression. Cows have been a symbol for nurturing at least as far back as ancient
Egypt. More literally, they are surrogate nurturers as children are weaned
from the breast, but Antoni reverses the roles here. Any sense of contentment
we gain from this bucolic nursing tale is abruptly interrupted by the work's
title: "2038" -- the number on the cow's ear tag. It is, we are
reminded, the cow that feeds us. The other photograph, titled "Momme," is a quiet, eerie and
comical portrait of the artist's mother that is difficult to describe
succinctly. But one of several common threads throughout the aptly titled
"Janine Antoni: Incarnate" are these autobiographical elements that
transcend conventional self-portraiture. All Antoni asks is that we fill in
the details. |
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