''Taking on Art History''

“Even the Ghost of the Past,”  Marcel Dzama’s elaborate show of drawings, sketchbook pages, sculpture, dioramas and video with live music accompaniment,(specifically his hole in the brick wall  piece entitled Even the Ghost of the Past) seems to “take on” art history.

 

You see a direct relation in Duchamps Étant donnés. It positions the viewer as a peeping tom; only one person at a time can view the diorama. The viewer is confronted with a mannequin of a woman’s body splayed across overgrown grass. The body seems lifeless but it holds up a gas light in the center of the tableau, illuminating an idyllic landscape, replete with Renaissance imagery. 

Dreaming

A dream has the power to unify the body, mind, and spirit. It provides you with insight into your own self and a means for self-exploration. In understanding your dreams, you will gain a better understanding and discovery of your true self.

Rafa Zubiría

With Rafa Zubria it is pretty hit and miss her snap shot content doesnt really have a direction. It just seems to be whatever took her fancy at that moment, which is fine but fairly conflicting and confusing to follow. Some of her images seem like adverts, some other worldly and certain ones could be out of a 1950's LIFE magazine. 

I did however really like her no way home series. It feels like a dream, very relaxed with but an underlying tension something doesnt feel quite right. Its probably something to do with the floating buildings. 

Christopher Patrick Ernst

Ernst' work is vibrant and filled with nostalgia. He brings together ''mundane'' every day situations and stock landscape photographs mixed with his own of a similar style. The images are set in laundromats, diners, on street and community centers, although taken recently they have a certain wishfulness of different time that may or may not have existed.  

magical spectres

Waterfall Inferno - Odani Motohiko

Inferno is a video installation by Japanese artist Odani Motohiko the installation is made up of 8 screens with a waterfall image projected onto the screens with the floor and ceiling made of mirror. this is a clever and well thought out concept and would give an all round experience. for me the image and meaning of water is more than a physical relationship of need, there is something else that is far more core to my persona. I see water as being something that is a part of me and my being. it is core to who I am. being near or in water or hearing it tumbling over rocks brings me great solace. in Motohiko's installation i can see that it would bring me serenity.

Sun Tunnels.

This light installation of Sun Tunnels is amazing and for me compares to a modern stonehenge. the sky is not just a backdrop but an integral part of the installation, how the sun and light at different points of the day and the year gives us a complete different interpretation and view of the landscape. it acts to highlight and accentuate not just the landscape but also the view within the tunnels.  Again it relates back to condensing something so vast, wild and uncontrollable and suggesting a view of it.