letter
from paris : : matthew
rose
coke
wisdom o'neal: the real thing
Mentor
(relax), 2003
We
are a culture of drug takers, seeking palliatives for every ailment, real and
imagined. Self-administrators of medications (or hair color, nail polish, condoms
or the friendly band aid), we become - by working the medical, prophylactic or
enhancement magic - self-healers, wizards, alchemists, or even scientists, managing
complex chemical reactions (or deactivations) in order to relieve pain, banish
blemishes, cure the worst, and deny the inevitable. Or, perhaps we pop and slather
pharmaceuticals and expensive wish-fulfillment products just to stay the same.
Quantity and quality indicate in some fashion not only our financial status, but
our neurotic tendencies, in essence, our personalities.
It
is with this idea that New York artist Coke Wisdom O'Neal stole into the bathrooms
of friends and acquaintances and, like a white man among aborigines, left with
their souls in his camera. O'Neal performs a telling cultural archeology with
his portraits. Truth be told, the 25 life-sized "portraits" (mounted
on aluminum and under Plexiglas) of personal medicine cabinets are those of ordinary
souls. But voyeurism is always interesting in and of itself, much like discovering
those poor souls in Pompeii burnt and frozen in time in the act of making bread…or
making love.
Interpole
Step (economy size), 2004
O'Neal
reports that America is holding vast quantities of Codeine, Tiger Balm, Tylenol,
Preparation H, Chanel No. 5, and Vaseline, as well as hoarding hair color products
and dozens of cute little empty bottles. Cabinets like Lover's Attic, (for children),
2003, is arresting because of what's not there. The lonely cabinet, inhabited
by a half-squeezed tube of toothpaste and an electric toothbrush has a small,
closed door portending some mystery. (Perhaps this is where the good stuff is?)
Stranger (est), 2003, is a regular corner pharmacy, laid out with multiples of
sample-sized skin creams and prescription drugs as if for sale. Here you won't
find Rush Limbaugh's stash of OxyContin, Courtney Love's controlled substances,
Woody Allen's Excedrin, Pamela Anderson's lip gloss or even George W. Bush's dental
floss. No, but you'll find someone else's Viagra…
Stranger
(est), 2003
When
did you begin photographing medicine cabinet portraits?
Coke O'Neal:
I started shooting the medicine cabinets about a year and a half ago. The first
pieces were part of a family portrait. My sister's cabinet is called "Skin
Caviar," my parents' is called "Big Pain," and mine (and my ex's)
is called "Sterile." I chose to a shoot a family portrait in this manner
because I felt I could capture the unguarded identity of my family. At that time,
I was working (and still am) as an architectural photographer for a real-estate
company. Because of the job, and the access to countless medicine cabinets, I
could finally do portraits of people without the need for a literal figure.
Has
anyone ever found out about your stealthy exploits?
Only
the people I told. (Although, in a different project, I photographed myself in
my ex's sister's underwear and when she found out, she freaked. I guess that's
the difference between looking and touching.)
Do
you specifically name the portrait after the person they directly represent?
If
I don't know the person in some way, I title it "Stranger," and give
a subtitle of a word or phrase that is written somewhere in the cabinet. If I
do know the person, I name it not with their real name but what they have meant
to me in my life, such as "mentor" or "friend."
How
many of these portraits have you produced?
I
have no idea. I have shot a lot. However, I have finished 25 that I will show
and sell. Even though I may not show any more, I do continue to shoot them for
my own personal reference.
Do
you link these portraits to the drug culture we live in?
Yes, we
take lot of drugs as a culture. More importantly, however, I think they show our
consumer culture and our love of products.
Ever
get caught taking one of these pictures or is the door to the bathroom always
locked?
I
have not been caught yet but I do like the idea that I might be.
There
is obviously something sociological about this work. What's up with Americans?
You can see a
person's neuroses in their cabinet. You know if someone wants to look younger,
or if they are dieting, or are heath conscious, or want to save the world or if
they think they are environmentally conscious.
The strange thing about
the cabinets is that after shooting them, I can almost guess what will be in a
cabinet upon meeting its owner. I have never met you or seen you before, but if
you told me a little about your beliefs, age and political tendencies, I could
make a pretty good guess as to what you have in your cabinet.
The expensive
apartments I photograph in Manhattan offer me a limited selection of cabinets.
I shoot friends, because, among other reasons, they don't fit into the limited
cabinet demographic I have access to on the job.
Are you still making
medicine cabinet portraits?
I
continue to shoot the cabinets so I can get a broader spectrum of sociological
research that fascinated me in the first place. Twice I have run into to cabinets
stocked full of Vaseline. The first time I was shooting this millionaire's home
for an insurance company. The whole day the guy who owned the place kept asking
me, while he browsed online: "What do you think about these call girls?"
and," which one should I ask out on a date."
The second was
a sculptor who kept vast quantities of Vaseline so when making molds of peoples'
faces, he could keep the molds from sticking to his subjects hair. I don't know
what the first guy used the Vaseline for, I just know he was some kind of pervert.
I like the irony of the two cabinets. I chose to show the sculptors because it
was innocent and I wanted to see if audience would think it innocent.
We
can look and try and understand what we see, but without asking, we will never
know what the Vaseline is used for.
Stranger
(face), 2003
Matthew
Rose is an artist and writer based in Paris. His e-mail: mistahrose@yahoo.com
Coke
Wisdom O'Neal's exhibition, "Medicine Cabinets - Portraits," at the
Aron Packer Gallery in Chicago was held from April 30 through June 5, 2004.
For
more information on Coke O'Neal:
http://www.aronpacker.com/oneal/oneal.html
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