MY EYES KEEP ME IN TROUBLE
April 15 , 2007 - May 6, 2007
Opening: April 15, 15.00
Organized by:
CCNOA, center for contemporary non-objective art Brussels (B)
Artists:
JOHN BEECH (UK/USA)
KJELL BJORGEENGEN (N)
VICTORIA CAROLAN (UK) & GUY DE BIÈVRE (B)
MATTHEW DELEGET (USA)
ALEXANDRA DEMENTIEVA (RUS/B) & AERNOUDT JACOBS (B)
WARD DENYS (B)
JAROSLAW FLICINSKI (PL)
CLEMENS HOLLERER (A/B)
ANDREW HUSTON (USA)
KLAAS KLOOSTERBOER (NL)
ROSSANA MARTINEZ (USA)
LAOPOLDINE ROUX (F/B)
EMMANUELLE VILLARD (F/B)
LEON VRANKEN (B)
BEAT ZODERER (CH)
Venue:
Nieuwe Vide
Minckelersweg 6
PB 5031 2000 CA Haarlem, Netherlands
MY EYES KEEP ME IN TROUBLE is the title of a song with lyrics and music by blues legend R.L. Burnside. The seemingly innocent yet conscious title
of this blues song triggered the idea to form or formulate a dialogue
between the different positions and concerns of a number of artists whose
practice revolves around the idea of non-representational, reductive or
concrete art as the essential approach towards art-making.
The thoughts of Josef Albers on the 'reductive' -- 'to open the eyes' or
'the eye is thinking' -- immediately came to mind. These ideas, deeply
grounded in the history of non-representational art or more precisely of
reductive art, and their ongoing influence on artists today, the
crossovers with other art movements and even the resurgence of the idea
of the 'concrete' are the givens for this exhibition project.
MY EYES KEEP ME IN TROUBLE can be seen as the bass line of the visual
artist's very own song. The artist today may no longer be caught by the
inner mysteries of life or the metaphysical subjects or theories and
--isms which developed in their wake as an almost logical response. The
artist today lives in a totally visual world and reacts to it, is drawn
into it, without this undermining his/ her intimate outlook on the world,
and often creates a close relationship with the objects/subjects of daily
life. The resulting works of art would seem to convey the idea of being
environmental property in which the distinction between the personal
universe and mass culture starts to blur but the discrete and the
intimate remain.
This exhibition can be perceived as a compilation, a gathering of
information, thought, content and context relating to today`s artistic
practice in the realm of reductive art. The key underlying message may be
no more than the message of possibility and a reinstatement of
phenomenology, the act of self-seeing. It is the personal eye which is
fascinated by what it discovers. Anything which catches the artist's eye
can be appropriated and used to create a personal language, filtered into
the intimate language of art-making spurned by the received ideas and
philosophical tenets surrounding the subject of the 'reductive'. At the
same time the forgotten language of visual environmental sensation
resurfaces and the value of individual properties is reinstated. With the
application of different means and media the artist has a great variety
of options for expressing his/her involvement with the personalised
subjects that are now part of the aesthetic of art- making. The end result
is a personal journey in which everyone can participate.
This curatorial project is not just intended as yet another
interpretation by yet another curator. No one artist is being promoted;
no one artists' group is being presented. The artworks themselves are not
to be seen as props underlining a curatorial idea or as commodities
launching a new fashion. They speak for themselves as individual oeuvres
or as staging posts in the visual journey on offer, triggering and
encouraging the actual act of seeing. There will be no explanation or
theoretical discourse on the content of the exhibition. The viewer
entering the space will be given the opportunity to 'see', to explore the
different artworks, their poetry and language, their social space and
specificity.
My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble is supported by:
Dutch City of Haarlem, the Region of Noord Holland, Flemisch Ministry of
Culture Belgium, Flemish Community Commission Brussels, CCNOA Friends
and the Office of Contemporary Art Oslo.
EXHIBITION CATALOG
In addition to contributing a work to the exhibition, each participating artist was asked to contribute an image and a text responding the title and theme of the show. My contribution is below.
United States Pacific Fleet training exercise
What I Want
I want luxury and riches
I want the earth’s resources
I want haves and have nots
I want the axis of evil
I want the Patriot Act
I want weapons of mass destruction
I want the war on terror
I want the war machine
I want profiteers and mercenaries
I want dead and wounded
I want suicide bombers
I want to stay the course
I want the decider
I want imperialism
I want corporate government
I want waste and incompetence
I want unilateralism
I want fundamentalism
I want sectarianism
I want compassionate conservatism
I want the religious right
I want megachurches
I want TV preachers
I want marriage defended
I want the right to life
I want Constitutional amendments
I want global warming
I want environmental pollution
I want oil dependence
I want borders defended
I want corporate corruption
I want jobs outsourced
I want personal debt
I want identity theft
I want the working poor
I want the digital divide
I want spam
I want engineered food
I want fad diets
I want Viagra and male enhancement
I want boob jobs and Botox
I want AIDS
I want the uninsured
I want media moguls
I want propaganda as news
I want news as entertainment
I want disposable culture
I want fame without accomplishment
I want the paparazzi
I want reality TV and Paris Hilton
I want celebrity sex tapes
I want art as advertising
I want materialism and mass consumption
I want more