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c104: Summer 2003 - Simpson/Gannon C104 review Dublin: Lorna Simpson at IMMA and Laura Gannon at Hugh Lane
Laura Gannon's Wordsong is a taut exhibition, which takes as its central theme an exploration of modes of communication in which the privileged position of language is challenged by reference to the senses, particularly sight, sound and touch. Focusing on single figures, the sequence of four films explores both the public and private realms of expression. In the first a woman waves, one presumes a farewell. The movement of her seemingly disconnected arm, which signals the moment of separation, appears contrived and ritualistic in contrast to her facial expression, which registers the whole gamut of emotion associated with parting. In another film a female figure, whose face we see frontally and in profile, elicits the failure of language to facilitate any kind of meaningful connection between her and a second (male) figure whose features are seen in the background. This is compounded by a soundtrack of indistinct words and human utterances, which has been specially composed for the piece by Ronan Coleman. Here the tension between the spoken word and the figure's physical response to an emotional encounter is central, with her nervous fondling of her lips and her tearstained cheek signalling her frustration. The snatches of dialogue that can be deciphered seem to suggest the disintegration of a relationship, which is based on memory and unfulfilled expectation. The more private aspects of communication are found in the second and fourth films in which the figure uses physical actions to denote feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. In the first of these we are presented with a close-up view of a female face caressing her lips in an ambiguous gesture which appears to be primarily sensuous, and even erotic. The hands proceed to massage the entire face, becoming more and more frantic so that a suggestion of extreme anxiety is made. In the final film one sees the naked shoulders and back of a figure whose shaved head continuously bows, moving from slow, controlled movements to ones which become increasingly erratic. Both of these films impart the feeling of a lack of emotional and psychological control, which is occurring within the confines of the individual's private space. The enactment of repetitive rocking movements and the touching of the face has an internal rhythm, which is both consoling and unnerving. The exhibition is well presented, with a great deal of attention paid towards its installation as well as to the actual setting and filming of the artworks themselves. Gannon's figures are placed in theatrical contexts with strong lighting and neutral backgrounds. Close-ups of faces and shots of shoulders and backs reveal little if any incidental detail. In fact the shoulders when shown are bare, so that one is made aware of the contrived nature of the project. This self-conscious artificiality has a distancing effect on the viewer, which encourages an analytical response to the scenarios being enacted before him or her. While this is, one presumes, part of Gannon's strategy, it has the effect of making a direct connection with the work more difficult. One becomes aware of structures and parallels within the exhibition, such as the juxtapositioning of the single private expression of emotion, and the public equivalent. Controlled and ritualistic modes of communication such as waving or bowing are countermanded by the unconscious touching of the mouth in the other films. The most successful parts of the exhibition are those in which the dislocation between the separate senses and parts of the body are most obvious. For example, the second film in which the female figure caresses her face is a powerful ambiguous image in which the physical and the emotional compete.
Lorna Simpson's mini retrospective at IMMA contains a cross-section of her work from 1986 to today. There are several overlaps between this show and Gannon's, most notably the emphasis on physicality and on multiculturalism 1 , but also an attention to aesthetics. Simpson's reputation as one of the leading African American artists dealing with issues of race and gender is confirmed in the exhibition, but perhaps not quite in the way one might have expected. Her development from photographic works accompanied by text, which she made in the 1980s, and which are now symptomatic of that period, develop into pieces in which the richness of the medium and the imagery bring the viewer in by engaging with their desire for an aesthetic experience. Voyeurism is a strategy which Simpson uses repeatedly as a means of gaining attention. Ultimately the viewer is denied any gratuitous satisfaction and thus their expectations are confounded. In Park and Clock tower , part of Simpson's 1995 Public sex series, views of public, urban spaces are accompanied by texts that refer to voyeurism, sexual intimacy and private trysts. The rich black-and-white tones of the felt photographs impart feelings of warmth, the antipathy of the neutral urban scenes, which they depict. The human body is notably absent. This is a development from the earlier photographic images of the black female body, such as Waterbearer (1986), which refer to both art-historical and mass-produced imagery. Through the positioning of the figure and the use of text, a simplified response to the image is challenged. In her more recent video work, Simpson seems to have moved away from the earlier reliance on a conceptual 'gap' between the artwork and the viewer. In Easy to remember (2001), she uses fifteen close-ups of lips humming a popular song familiar from the artist's childhood. The directness of this work, which evokes racial stereotypes of Negro spirituals, may suggest, and has suggested to some, that Simpson is dumbing down her engagement with a dominant mass culture, and is even succumbing to its emphasis on entertainment. But perhaps it is more a compliment to Simpson that she is able to engage the viewer's attention through humour, intrigue and multi-layered imagery in such a compulsive way. Her film Call waiting (1997) is an example of her ability to use familiar cinematic devices to challenge our assumptions. This piece makes obvious reference to film noir, and even Woody Allen, both in its rich black-and-white tones, and in its scenario which relies on a sequence of telephone calls which lead the viewer into a quagmire of sexual and personal dilemmas, none of which is resolved. The problems of communication are not affected by the fact that the characters are from different ethnic backgrounds, and that three languages are used in the duration of the film. What it seems to suggest is that language and race are not the key elements in the failure to communicate but that the problems arise from a universal human need to reveal and conceal the truth. Although oblique references to racial stereotyping are found within the film, Simpson overrides the familiar Hollywood reliance on clichéd views of race. The value of this exhibition is the opportunity it gives to compare the different strategies used by Simpson to make challenging political art that can also be of aesthetic interest. Róisín Kennedy is a Government of Ireland Research Scholar at University College, Dublin. Laura Gannon: Wordsong , Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, March/May 2003 Lorna Simpson: Photoworks and Films 1986-2002 , Irish Museum of Modern Art, February - July 2003 1 Gannon uses white and black people in Wordsong .
Comment 1 on 2007-02-18 15:58:15 [664]
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