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Brides of Frankenstein
by Marcia Tanner, Curator
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, U.S.A
31 July–30 October, 2005
Reviewed by Sonya Rapoport, Berkeley, California, U.S.A
sonyarap@lmi.net
Beverly Reiser, Oakland, California, U.S.A
beverly@idiom.com
Sonya Rapoport: After 200 years Dr
Frankenstein must be turning in his grave as his harem of fifteen brides
assemble to create new forms of life.
Beverly Reiser: I am still mulling over how this show is uniquely female.
SR: The video of the huge rose inviting us into the exhibition is certainly
feminine.
BR Andrea Ackerman is the Georgia O'Keefe of the computer graphics world. Rose
Breathing is an exquisitely composed opening and closing of a flower-like
structure, easily the most sensuous and seductive piece in the show. Although
artificial, this supremely organic structure embodies the artificial brought
to life.
SR Gail Wight's Sirens' installation of large hybrid forms is soft and
gentle.
BR: "The Sirens" is a comment on an organism's ability to adapt and
survive, indicated in the notes on the wall. To successfully adapt to a
hostile environment is not solely feminine but more often feminine than
masculine. From the show's notes however, this adaptation may be a siren song
because it lulls us into thinking that environmental degradation is benign
when in fact it is ultimately malignant.
SR : Well, let's begin with what you like best.
BR: My favorite work, "Shaken," by Camille Utterback, is the snow
dome with the little LCD screen inside, the playfulness of the figure
becoming more agitated as you shake the dome, and motionless as you hold it
still. Again the theme of human interference brings the artificial figure
(woman) to life. The machine could be training us to engage in the specific
behavior that needs to be activated. Maybe artificial life is bringing the
organic (human) to life or at least motion.
SR: I see Shaken as a technically tweaked paperweight, comfortable in
the hand and Christmas-like to the eye. It may have a message but I'm waiting
for something more weighty.
BR: The black and white photos of robotic-like sculptures are caught in
emotionally evocative poses. With wide eyed expression one sculpture is
studying it's own hands as if to say look at these startling gadgets
SR .A bit of Hans Bellmer here. The structural coils remind me of the
tortuous cosmetic ritual for lengthening female necks. My favorite piece is
the video Dream of Beauty by Kirstin Geisler, an animated androgynous
nude descending the Duchampion staircase.
BR: Impossibly idealized body form presented as an unattainable model for us
all
SR The brochure notes "A tabula rasa awaiting the projections of
others' fantasies." As the mannequin descends I see a stair section
flashing between her upper thighs, suggesting the form of a penis.
BR Amy Myers' Fearful Symmetry, an almost symmetrical drawing of a
mystical female icon, is elegant and abstract with scientific references. The
style is very formal yet conveys continual flux.
SR: I wonder why she is in the show unless she is a collective portrait of
the brides
BR: Heidi Kumao's "Resist" is a set of robotic legs (little girl
size) with little girl shoes. A sound sensor activated by the visitor's voice
brings the legs to life, pushing away from the viewer with great discomfort
and defensiveness as if pulling away from an attack. It is one of the pieces
that comes closest to the Frankenstein theme.
SR: This strong work is both cold and
passionate.
BR: Erzsebet Baerveldt's 12 min. DVD "Pieta" makes reference both
to Christian tradition and the Jewish folk legend of the golem. The Madonna
as artist tries to bring a wet clay woman's body to life by manipulating its
limbs. The video keeps looping her unsuccessful labors. The low res video
magnifies the sense of eternal desolation and failure.
SR: The intense but not compassionate sculptor could have been Frankenstein
himself.
BR: In the original novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
was plagued by remorse and guilt Ouch by Tamara Stone is about quilt
and horror. The visitor moves through a galley of hanging stuffed rag bodies.
Upon being touched the bodies emit "Ouch." The notes' promise of
stories and songs would have added richness and complexity .
SR: State of the art technologies may
give virtual life to the rag dolls, but Tony Oursler's low-tech doll
installations communicate more succinctly.
BR: Eliza Redux: The Veils of Transference by Adrianne Wortzel is a
visit to an artificial therapist's office. Is this a comment on psychotherapy
or simply flaunting a clever computer program?
SR: Eliza deserves a larger display
Conclusion: Brides of Frankenstein is an original and provocative
exhibition that must have been as challenging to expedite as it is
challenging to absorb.
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