letter
from new york : : meaghan kent 
in
chelsea: louise lawler at metro pictures, jane & louise wilson at 303 gallery
In
the 1980's Louise Lawler photographed other artists' works and then exhibited
the photographs, receiving a 10% commission from sales. This is at the same time
use of the art object as the subject in itself and a critique on art world economics.
Lawler is best known for Ciba-chromes of artwork in situ -- artworks that are
hung and tagged on museum walls, blending into a collector's home or Ancient Greek
statuary crated in storage. In her latest exhibition at Metro Pictures, Looking
Forward, she continued her focus on art in transition -- work that temporarily
changes identities and literally becomes the art as object. The works as photographed
by Lawler, are ready to be installed in or taken down from galleries, museums
or art fairs - art works in a state of transition rather than fixed in a hierarchy
of value.
Lawler
is a reporter of art in its dressing room. With the rising popularity of international
art fairs it comes as no surprise that there is an insider's dialogue around art
in transit. Her subject is the art work, but she is no mere appropriator. Here
is found a brief viewing of fine art in it's constructed phase. Art handlers are
gloved and the works are carefully packaged in blankets and bubble wrap. Lawler
locates a Damien Hirst work hiding in a closet -- ready of course to be pulled
out at a moment's hundred thousand dollar notice. Much artwork, we are reminded,
spends more time in boxes and transit than in actual presentation.
The
exhibition's best example is the simply-titled Big, (2002-2003), which includes
a decapitated Catalan sculpture of Picasso resting on the floor of the Marian
Goodman stand at an art fair. Lawler's Big is both comic and tragic as it presents
Picasso's oversized head staring at its own body on the floor. The Thomas Struth
on the wall behind (Struth is also a photographer who captures candid art museum
moments), encapsulates yet another dialogue between the viewer and the viewed.
Big exposes a very brief moment at Goodman's stand - and it is a revelation of
sorts that something as big as Picasso and expensive as a Catalan might be found
lying around on the floor.
Lawler's
photographs about artwork reached notoriety during the art self-conscious 1980s
and 1990s. At the Kustmuseum during Art Basel in Switzerland recently, her critical
observations concerning art about art may have peaked. With the rise in art fairs,
Lawler's institutional critique has enlarged its corpus. The current environment
depicted in her photographs makes the work both relevant and timely.
What
makes her work most interesting is its strong ties to temporary, transient placements
(perhaps like photographing $100 bills as they change hands). While the body of
work is thematically consistent, we are continuously taken from one space to another,
pushed into the same sense of dislocation caught in the images. Art works come
across as nomadic wanderers through history, albeit within the same desert. This
is in strong contrast to the usual presentation of valuable works art - surrounded
by white wall space as if they occupied a territory independent of societal context.
Another sort
of dislocation is seen in Jane and Louise Wilson's current exhibition at 303 Gallery.
While the Wilson's show is thematically specific, it also reeks of isolation.
Their haunting installation "Erewhon" is titled after a Samuel Butler
satire from 1872, and video footage, taken during their two-month residency in
New Zealand, and spills out onto five screens; the viewer physically enters into
work itself. While two different locations are scenes -- a mining town in Denniston
and a vacant sanitarium in Hanmer -- the work is edited well enough to situate
you into both locations at once. Images of lush farm country are layered with
early 20th century women's gymnastics. The narrative, weirdly enough, unveils
tragedy and loss: Erewhon is nowhere backwards.
In
the gymnasium scenes, the Wilsons recreate a time period in New Zealand following
World War I when the country's male population was greatly decreased. Enormous
casualties for the small country prompted the government to develop eugenics policies.
The nation rapidly became engrossed with health, pushing many young women into
obsessive fitness routines.
The
long pauses in the women's routines, where they hold their positions for lengths
of time is matched to the quiet whistling of farm country. The Wilsons are known
for their extended shots, and in this case, calmness is especially isolating and
disorienting. The shifting from empty sanitarium to exercise routines sustains
a slow progression. Scenes of the sanitarium with its fragmented windows further
evoke the emptiness of an expansive landscape.
Considering
notions of dislocation, and the difference between shifting from one place to
another, dominated my attention when suddenly the heel of my boot caught on the
top stair of the Gallery and I fell six steps onto the ground below me (ironically
I landed on an artistic rendering of an outlined figure taped on the sidewalk).
I wondered what might have caused my fall: Was I still feeling displaced by Lawler's
Cibachrome prints or perhaps frightened from the voluptuous exercising women swinging
in the Gallery above? Fortunately the Lawler catalogue I just purchased broke
my fall.
Meaghan
Kent is an Assistant Director at I-20 Gallery, New York City, New York. Her e-mail
is kent@i-20.com
