(From ‘The Walled Garden of Truth’)
“Why, tell me, if what you seek
Does not exist in any place,
Do you propose to travel there on foot?
The road yourself must journey on
Lies in polishing the mirror of your heart.”([1])
Recovery stories are as unique as the recounting of a seemingly shared experience in the Indian legend, the ‘The Blind Men and an Elephant, where the blind men touch an elephant, each a different part (ear, leg, trunk, tail, etc.) and all describe their elephant encounter inimitably. Christine Clark has chosen to exemplify her introspection after a year of sobriety in Aluminum Circle.
Luciano Fabro: “In all cases, use of material has been determined by human experience of which it is an especially able reporter (elasticity, luminosity, transparency, reflection, refraction...). My practical problem is not then that of rendering an otherwise amorphous material aesthetic, but rather that of rendering as clearly as possible the natural dialogue with the material.”([2]) In the 60s, the poetic and elusive Arte Povera sought to expand the boundaries between art and life. This was an art of optimism, belief in the transformative power of art in concert with human endeavor. Arte Povera continues to resonate, and Clark’s work challenges the divide between art and life.
Clark’s utilization of beer cans as material initiates wandering into ideology. Lately, Ecoart manifests through urban living though it still harbours Pop elements these days, where artists employing multiples of the same/similar easily accessed materials, found materials, recycled with the new ‘art’ use along with updated ideology. Unlike Arte Povera, Pop acknowledged consumerism as an icon of social enterprise. Ecoart continues the tradition of recycled material use, now emblems of planetary consumption diverging towards responsibility. Yet personal life is as easily separated as the recyclables. Jessica Jackson Hutchins’s newspaper glued sofa, “Couch for a Long Time” was shown at the 75th Whitney Biennale last February, for example and sustains an objectified view of the impact of a politic. El Anaatsui is renowned for his grand hanging works made of bottle tops, sheaths of splendor that are far more intuitive, yet resonant of consumerism seems to be the origin of his work as the chosen material is always important, referred to first. Aluminum Circle employs the material remnants of a life lived to create an experiential installation, akin to the Arte Povera sensibility. Clark uses used beer can aluminum, yes (and responsibly!). Clark told us so, so we look for the beer labeling – glimpse of labels somewhat familiar overlap the metal discs strewn at the base of the work. Aluminum Circle is so much more. Clark takes us from cans to candor. Honesty is a difficult subject for art, and Clark uses circles in spatial arrangements to describe the essence of growth, rendering the process of encapsulating personal responsibility - a measurement of candour.
At the opening, Clark talked about the shimmering. I thought of a Klimt glimmer, gleam. The premise here is so different. There is no erotic flamboyancy glittering here. Christine presents sensual effervescence, a gentle spirituality. Like Fabro’s ‘Edera’ ([3]), there is upward growth. In Clark’s work, her progression swells with a shimmery spray, bestowing abundance, a delicate, yet tentative vivacity.
Some may say that it is the concept that matters most. Others, that material is where the matter is. And the equation of how the artist lives/lived, what artist utilizes to make or present is subjective and will become objective with the making. What you see in Aluminum Circle is transcendence. Of material. Of hope. Recovered material objectifies a recovered life. Mind over matter. Quite an expanse of thought, of resourcefulness. Of persistence to cut out and pin all those metal discs.
1442 Haultain St.
Victoria, BC
11 – 19 March 2011
[1]
Sanai, Hakim. “The Hadiqa” or “The Walled Garden of Truth”. Octagon Press. 2008
http://www.octagonpress.com/titles/LI/wagapage08.htm
[2] Luciano Fabro cited in exh. cat., Luciano Fabro, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p. 12
So glad you did that Deborah. The Arte Povera reference is spot on.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Philip. Glad you think so...
ReplyDelete~ Debora
Hi Debora. Thanks for the article. Your references are great. And I'm glad you made the distinction between the circles and EcoArt, because actually beer cans aren't really waste products. They have value (monetary) and can be re-used. So in a way, it's slightly subversive. I'm wasting good recyclables by turning them into art, rather than making useless trash meaningful by turning it into art. I'm not sure what the process is, but I'm sure the circles are still valuable...they're aluminum. But anyways.
ReplyDeleteThanks and see you around, I hope.
You are welcome, Christine.
ReplyDeleteI thought I needed to point out that Eco/environmental art (some are adamant these terms are distinct and separate) addresses our interaction with the environment, however, as material originating from a recyclable source, you were not wasting but reusing (Reduce, reuse, recycle!). More importantly, the true value of the work is your reclaiming, asserting the progressive precision of your arising focus. Best, Debora
yes, and i've been reading that one of the purposes in ecoart is to highlight the value of natural resources (value beyond monetary) and it is true that i thought a lot about the otherworld beauty of aluminum hidden inside of a beer can. it's an interesting metaphor in terms of alcoholism, etc., but it's also strange to consider how little we, culturally, maybe globally, really do value the natural gifts of the earth...we go for plastic instead. so maybe it's a little ecoart too!
ReplyDelete