We are showing the first joint
exhibition of New York artists LEON GOLUB (born 1922) and NANCY SPERO
(born 1926), who have been represented by the gallery with solo
exhibitions since 1991. They were awarded the 3rd Hiroshima Art Prize in
1996. Leon Golub was participant of documenta 11 in 2002, Nancy Spero
of documenta 10 in 1997. Since the very beginning of their creative
activities in the early 50ies they have consistently taken up various
issues related to war, violence and human rights, creating works with
powerful messages from their respective viewpoints as a man and as a
woman.
Nancy Spero is choosing images of
women from various periods and cultures for her collages, always dealing
with war and cult. For her, history is a history of wars and therefore a
history of women, of victims as well as of surviving.
„Avoiding a feminist rant, Spero
treads a fine line between polemic and humour. Humour is indeed a key
weapon in her armoury, yet the dark side is never far from the surface.“
Elizabeth A.Macgregor
Nancy Spero’s work „is a vital utopia
in process, uncertain and unpredictable: a procession of
maternal/feminine figures in a loose choreography (…), an homage to
creation, and its continual potential for self-revision and the
challenging of social and cultural order.“ (Catherine de Zegher)
She has completed a number of permanent installations and wall works at
venues in the U.S. (Lincoln Centre subway station, New York) and Europe,
three of them in Austria:
Ronacher Theatre Vienna, Jüdisches Museum Vienna and Heeresspital,
Innsbruck.
“I have pictured some of the events
and some of the kinds of experiences that undercut our current world
pictures, that is to say the effects of power and domination, the uses
of interrogation to control dissidence or opposition, how such
behaviours effect the consciousness and psychic responses of victimizers
and victims and also to indicate some of the public and private
behavioral gestures of men acting out real time reactive scenarios.“
Leon Golub
In the last years Leon Golub has
broken with structured, confrontational images, but his language still
remained sardonic. Dogs, lions and cyborgs are now representing
elements of change, aggression, and a whole range of irregular and
irritable circumstances.
This joint exhibition features artists Cameron Jamie and the Graz group G.R.A.M. who continues a collaboration and artistic friendship that has lasted many years.
With critical-and analytical intentions one aspect of Cameron Jamie’s work has examined various extreme forms of rituals in societies (subcultures of teenagers wrestling, Halloween haunted houses, demonic Austrian folk figures such as the Perchten and Krampus, or amateur TV) which present utopian, apocalyptic future visions and fantasies. The visual imagery immediately arouses in the viewer questions about the conditions under which such strange forms can arise within society.
Cameron Jamie was born and raised Southern California. In his films such as „BB” (2000) or “Cypress,” (1999-2000) Jamie presented the subculture of youth in Los Angeles like a field researcher. In the dilapidated suburban slums of the underground movement where young people meet for wrestling events. Working together with them over a period of years, the artist developed his film work to what had become known as the critically acclaimed black and white super-8 film, “BB.” He has also collaborated with the rock band called, The Melvins who supplied the Wagnerian style rock soundtrack for “BB.” Jamie will also be presenting new works on paper, as well as 9 new photographs of “Spook Houses” (2002) from his on-going documentation and upcoming film project shot in the suburbs of Michigan. Also on view is “The Neotoma Tape” (1983-1995), a repulsive compilation of anonymous amateur videos, which shows the grotesque effects of the American entertainment culture.
In their latest photographic works, G.R.A.M. attempt to portray a possible stage of human development, one long before or after the present form of existence. In a sociotope that has not previously been discovered, there exist living creatures which practice strange forms of behaviour. Resembling human beings, the naked creatures live outdoors, although nothing is yet known of their exact strategies for survival. Direct contact with them has not yet been made. Apart from these present observations, which have been recorded in the form of photographs, there is no proof of their existence. The protagonists could be representatives of a sect-like group that has dropped out of civilisation. However the whole thing could also be a post-apocalyptic vision, a sudden possible glimpse into the future. The blurred b/w photographs, which remind one of some expedition undertaken long ago in history, make it difficult to place in time. The topographical context cannot be determined from the pictures.
G.R.A.M. are also planning to make a documentary film about these strange inhabitants of paradise, who are known as Wiedergänger. From the film records they expect to obtain further and more revealing information about this species. In this way they hope to be able to make a contribution to speculation about the future of human beings.
