Sana Rose
, ContributorThe following is the second part of a two-part review of Curator's Eye I: Install/In the Moment/In Site currently showing at the National Gallery of Jamaica.
THE ABILITY of installation art to speak to the Jamaican experience runs as an undercurrent in Curator's Eye I but as we re-acquaint ourselves with or acquire knowledge of its predecessor, we must turn our attention to A Cultural Object by Dawn Scott, one of two works which became a part of the gallery's permanent collection from the Six Options show. (Dawn Scott declined the invitation to participate in Curator's Eye).
A work that depicts the reality of poverty and culture, A Cultural Object has not lost its resonance even after nearly 20 years partly because it presents an experience that contemporary Jamaica still confronts and partly because of its integrity and grittiness of execution. Likewise, Natalie Butler in the present show, whose piece Import sheds light on the issue of the bombardment of foreign goods on the island due to excessive importation, is not without currency.
Just two weeks ago, the topic was the focus of the lead article on the front page of The Sunday Gleaner. Butler's walls/barriers of boxes leave narrow passageways for us to walk through, causing us to be aware of the imposition of this practice on local production - a resounding reality with serious consequences. Dr. Lowery Stokes-Sims refers to this as the "interventionist role" of installation art the ability to confront viewers directly and disrupt or challenge our existence/ideas.
COMPLETELY REDESIGNED
Also, the spaces that have been completely redesigned to affect the senses and effect a sensory response/exchange between viewer and work function in that interventionist capacity such as the red rooms depicted in Omari Ra's Destruction/Restruction and Denise Forbes' Mother's Son. Add to these the scent of rotting bread and the sound of dripping blood respectively and the stage is set for more than just a visual encounter.
Laura Facey-Cooper also involves our noses in her work with rose-scented blood flowing from the base of Body and Blood of Christ. Jiivannii RedMarks and Petrona Morrison take us into black and white rooms but where we are able to sojourn in Morrison's architectonic and psychologically moving Reality: Representation, RedMarks unfortunately stunts our complete interaction with her work by restricting our movement considerably as she insists that we do not step into her 'dreamscape'. The result is that we end up viewing the piece as one would a traditionally presented art object.
Space is not only physical in Curator's Eye I but also social, political, historical and psychological. The viewer's ability to shift into these various modes depends not only on his/her
acute awareness of and sensitivity to each environment and idea
but also on the success of each artist as his/her own curator to resolve and
reconcile form and content within each space. As we view, we find that these
successes fluctuate between the artists and compromise the overall impact of
the show.
The viewing of Nari Ward's imaginatively engineered Garvey
Carts is impeded by the harsh reflections of the fluorescent lights in the
floor while Nakazzi Hutchinson also neglected the floor of her space, which
does not harmonise with the components of her installation. This includes the
carpet running underneath the bed of leaves. Albert Chong's striking macka shirt,
hovering above feathers that have been organised in the shape of a pentagon,
functions purely as an object because the surrounding space and photographs
have little or no relationship to it. Even the video of him wearing the shirt
is affected to some extent by the lack of a spatial relationship.
Denise Forbes' neighbouring room, while a bold concept of marrying
and creating a dialogue between theatre and installation, is weak in form. Sadly,
the organisation of Margaret Chen's pieces that were part of a brilliant solo
display last year diminishes their impact because the space has not been transformed
to encourage us to revisit the works in a new way and in Hope Brooks' Self
Portrait: In Search of the Essence of Life, most of her large panels are
unresolved in terms of form. In the case of David Marchand, his Eight Boxes
have not made the transition into installation as the boxes appear as separate,
unrelated entities.
SINGULAR OBJECTS
Similarly, the paintings in Khary Darby's Ascent/Descent
still function as singular objects rather than spatial dialogue even though
the artist will continue to add more drawings to the walls over time. While
scale and expanse of space is worked at in the strong conceptual approach of
Natalie Butler, the Gallery's columns and railing function more as encumbrances
rather than as parts of her work.
Laura Facey-Cooper returns in monumental style after the Emancipation
Park sculpture controversy with her enduring theme of spirituality. While the
space defined by the large golden torso and issue of blood is strong and complete,
she adds two large panels, one of which displays printed text that steers us
further towards the theme. The artist then placed the body at an awkward angle,
trying to negotiate a visual link with the two panels but with little success.
Coupled with the title of the work, the text results in overkill of an already
succinctly made visual statement.
Dr. David Boxer presents to us slavery and the Middle Passage,
a recurring theme in his work but offers us a rather polished, clinical and
academic view of a horrific, gut-wrenching and emotional occurrence in our history.
Greater success is found in Petrona Morrison's room where form and content fuse
into a harmonious whole where the black and white colour scheme as opposed to
a broader colour range does not in any way diminish our emotional responses.
On the other side of the communication spectrum, Omari Ra's open-ended but somewhat
formally incomplete statement provides a cerebral challenge of association and
metaphor.
IRRATIONAL GOAL
Curator's Eye I does not seem intent on defining or redefining
Jamaican art strictly in terms of contemporary trends, which would be an irrational
goal since it ignores and tries to suppress those who fall outside of these
ideas within the current art scene. The traditional mode of artmaking will most
likely continue to be the dominant of the two because the public is able to
identify with it more. This does not mean that contemporary modes should be
stifled. The public may be far more intimidated by the contemporary but we need
not declare this to be narrow-mindedness. Such an underestimation negates the
possibilities of communication and education.
Curator's Eye I is a good way of initiating and sustaining such
exchanges that could widen discussion about the contemporary within Jamaican
art but only if we make use of it.
The exhibition continues until June 19.
