It might be obvious to say that Disidentifications–which features four bedframes, a recreation of the Chinese Theatre walkway, and a massive multi-colored vinyl map of Maryland–is an exhibition about physical space. But like all obvious statements, it’s worth repeating, if only to prevent us from getting so used to it that we take it for granted.
It’s important that we don’t; the emphasis the three artists place on physical space is just as important as–in fact, it complements–their emphasis on estrangement. The frames, the walkway, and the map are related because they all give physical form to the harrowing discomfort of cultural disillusionment. If we consider how these three representations of physical space differ, however, it becomes apparent that those who feel this disenchantment feel it in all levels of their lives. It can manifest itself not only socially, as on the walkway of Graugan’s theatre, a simplified American projection of Chinese culture, but personally, as on the intimate scale of the bed, and even topographically, as on the grand abstracted scale of the map. The disconcerting feeling, in a word, can penetrate all aspects of one’s life.
The works of Bishop, Lau, and Mao are not necessarily political statements. They are not protests, or even embittered reactions. But they are reactions, deep-felt ones, that bring attention to the pervasive sense of alienation of minorities in America. Of course everyone is aware that this shared experience exists. But that doesn’t mean it should be ignored; rather, it should be acknowledged, openly confronted and discussed. This, too, is obvious.
When I first saw Information Retrieval 138 (Spectrum Plains) by Geraldine Lau, I reflected on the way it invited me to look at things and people in terms of their multiple facets rather than over-generalizations or mere labels like those specifically of race or culture. The map of Maryland is identifiable, yet upon closer investigation it is not a strictly objective representation. With varying colors and boundaries I was distracted from the whole and began to see different individual shapes and relationships of the parts. It became more difficult to pinpoint where certain places would be on this map. Just like it is hard to pinpoint what defines a person in our multicultural world. We are the sum of our parts and we all bring different parts to the table. That is also where ambiguity generates between the parts we identity or disidentify with and society’s reception of that. -Danielle
The Stamp Gallery is pleased to announce its newest exhibit, Disidentifications, featuring works by Kyan Bishop, Geraldine Lau, and Yeni Mao!
Asian-American often experience a sense of estrangement from or reaction against their cultural heritage, and yet, because society reads foreignness into their appearances, they are often asked to be a representative for that culture. Some may accept or embrace this identification, while others may reject it and work against society’s characterization. However, when a minority subject “disidentifies,” when they neither accept nor fully reject society’s given identifications, we are left with a third option: to work within and around dominant cultural ideology towards the creation of new cultural identities and spaces within which minority populations can thrive, and ultimately break down socially accepted ideas of otherness.
Taking a cue from the book of the same name by José Esteban Muñoz, Disidentifications is an exhibition that explores the physical manifestations of artistic disidentificatory practice. This exhibition considers how three artists react or respond to the complex and intricate reality of cultural and physical identification. The works in the show struggle with ideas of perceived foreignness, the fluidity of culture and cultural belongingness, and societal identity, often towards a rejection of any notion of static or quantifiable identity. Unlike exhibitions or works that take the definition of personal or collective identity as their conceptual aim, this exhibition questions the relationship of identity to societal pressures and (mis)conceptions and re-examines the place or foundation of cultural identity and belonging through the lens of three Asian-American artists.
Disidentifications will run from January 25th to April 9, 2010.
The two months of Jessica Vaughn’s exhibition is coming to a close, we’re sad to say. We’ve loved hearing thoughts from our visitors. I even had a lovely discussion with a ten-year-old about Jessica’s inventive use of carborundum. All comments are encouraged!
Sitting with this work over the past several weeks has gotten me to think deeply about the complexities of public displays of any sort. In particular, an athletic achievement, especially in the social eye, cannot simply be about the measures of time or points, especially for an athlete such as Jessie Owens.
I’ve read a couple articles in the Diamondback, the University of Maryland newspaper, looking into the impact of the students’ opinions on the athletes who play for the university. Also, talking with some people who know a couple of these athletes personally, I’ve gained an awareness of the penetration of public opinion into these performers’ lives. What had previously appeared to be two untouchable worlds of sports now seems clearly interconnected. What motivates these athletes to perform in these sort of spectator environments? What impact do these seemingly straight-forward personal achievements have?
I have a poster of Steve Prefontaine in my room with the quote, “I’m going to work so that it’s a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it.” Jessie Owens certainly ran that “pure guts race” and, as this exhibition proves, he keeps on winning.
A brief read of Jesse Owens’s biography gave me a heightened sense of the spiraling, jumbled figures in Vaughn’s work. Cut from the context of the race, Owens is tangled in a knot of his own athletic gift. An image of his famed performance caught mid-action is stripped of meanings as a display of strength and, from being cut and shifted its orientation, takes the connotation of stumbling wildly, “toppled” from the pinnacle.
But the frustration is much more complex! Two pieces of information have completely altered my view on this exhibit.
First, Jesse Owens was apparently quite a popular figure in Germany at the time of the Olympics. Despite the heavy propagandistic messages from the Nazi party, the German public found Owens to be a spectacle, showering him with cheers of “Oh-vens!” and smothering him with autograph requests. Owens himself reflected that he received his greatest reception in Germany, even having been a well-known figure in America before the Olympic year.
Perhaps the most shocking of these was the shear fact that Franklin D. Roosevelt, the acting president at the time of the games, neglected to ever publicly recognize Owens overwhelming accomplishments, particularly at the event hosted by his international political opponent! This immediately breaks the bounds of the works’ concerns of race superiority far beyond the Nazi games. Here, two political nations to battle furiously in two World Wars, were refusing to acknowledge the dominating feats of an African American.
The silence and still in these images seem to be out of commemoration, but also of shock. Almost as if these were the mental images of Hitler and Roosevelt, trying desperately to erase and frustrate the concept of a dominating African American in their modern world.
But how were others moved? What was it like to be in that stadium? On what level did the admiration and inspiration we celebrate today lie in the minds of the world of spectators in 1936?
Carborundum is one of the materials that Jessica Vaughn uses in her series TOPPLED. It is a compound that consists of silicon and carbon and that can been used as an abrasive. In Vaughn’s prints she uses the compound as an additive element rather than utilizing its destructive characteristic. The areas of the prints covered in carborundum look dark from a distance, however as you get closer you can see the details concealed by the sand-like mineral
“Illegitimi non carborundum” was a common Latin slang phrase taken to mean “don’t let the bastards grind you down.” Ironically Vaughn’s series addresses the era of the Nazi Regim which was attempting to suppress multiple groups of people; nonetheless, Jesse Owens defied the notion of race superiority at the 1936 Berlin Olympics as depicted in Vaughn’s works as well.
Jessica Vaughn’s practice as an artist is grounded in the struggles that arise from the use of different materials. Knowing that there is not a predetermined end to what she can do to materials, she manipulates them, not to just make the materials her own but to subvert the conventional use or ownership of the material. She furthers the discussion of representation by using printmaking to explore the boundaries between two and three-dimensional work. Vaughn combines silkscreen, lithography, and digital printing with unconventional materials, such as carborundum, to bring to life images that are often times hidden, and culturally and politically ambiguous. In both her prints and paintings she places together materials and images that don’t conventionally belong to further push the conceptual aspects of her work. Carborundum, a material used to erase an image, Vaughn uses to build images. She also employs garbage bags and tar to provide visual tension and uncertainty. Her methods support her investigations of questionable realities, while creating a dialogue between material and image.
In her current exhibition “Toppled” Jessica Vaughn explores historical and cultural issues through the athletic performance of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The 1936 Olympics were meant to support political myth in the promotion of a German state and the cultural myth of the inferiority of black citizens; however, with the unlikely outcomes of the athlete’s performances, these myths were challenged. In appropriating the iconic image of Jesse Owens from Leni Riefenstahl’s 1938 film “Olympia” as well as archival still images from the Games, Vaughn critiques the sporting event as a heightened connection between euphoria and spectacle, between the body and a public space. On her prints she collages additional representations and layers of carborundum so that Owens’ initial image becomes more complicated and more of a metaphor for this political moment. A former competitive athlete herself, Vaughn witnessed the emotion spectators had for an individual within a performative moment. She uses these experiences to challenge conventional representations of public spaces, and minority bodies through material choices.
Toppled
an exhibition at the Stamp Gallery
October 14th – December 18th, 2009
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You can look forward to a video post coming soon of artist Jessica Vaughn speaking about her series TOPPLED, our current exhibition. For an up close look at Vaughn’s provocative prints, come visit us at Stamp Gallery October 14- December 18, 2009. The gallery website, http://www.thestamp.umd.edu/gallery/ provides more information about our exhibitions and featured artists.
