I saw this piece by Bettina Samson as part of a group show. The first thing that stood out about it wasn’t actually the sculptures but Samson’s date of birth on the label. She was born in the same year as me (1982). It’s not often I see an artist exhibiting in a gallery who’s the same age as me. I didn’t know whether to feel old or to have respect for her because she was in such a big exhibition so young. Maybe it’s not young! It’s something that I’m still trying to get my head around.
I love group shows. In the winter the top galleries and museums concentrate on the blockbusters - retrospectives of the art megastars. This is great and everything but after you’ve seen the first ten almost identical sculptures/paintings your eyes glaze over and you go into a strange trance occasionally remembering to look interested (perhaps stroking your chin) as you feel that’s what you should do in front of the other thousand people crammed into the space. In the summer however, the art on offer is a lot more fun, probably because all the art snobs are off sunning themselves in Provence.
Dynasty is an exhibition spanning two neighbouring galleries, Palais de Tokio and Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, showcasing emerging artists and judging by the French names there’s a lot of home grown talent.
As far as I could see there doesn’t seem to be any connection to the classic 1980s drama series, which did disappoint me as I used to live in the same block as the guy who played Ben Carrington (RIP Christopher Cazanove) so I’m a big fan. There’s definitely no glamour or shoulder-pads as the Palais de Tokio is currently going through a bit of a refurb, which in my opinion this adds to its appeal.
Samson has a few pieces in the exhibition, the most memorable is Warren, 1/4 de seconde en Cinémascope (1/4 of a second in Cinemascope), 2007, which consists of seven portraits of Warren Oates; based on his scenes in the late 60s western, The Wild Bunch.
I’ve never seen the film, although I definitely want to now to work out why Warren is pulling that strange face. You can’t ignore it and you can’t stop looking, especially as it’s reproduced seven times. Perhaps his scrunched up eyes are protecting him from the dust kicked up by the horse in front or waiting for the inevitable bullet of a shoot-out. The busts sit on the floor as if Warren and his clones have sunk into quick sand. In the background plays an unsettling film of nothing.
Warren died the year Bettina was born. Perhaps she sees herself as a reincarnation of him? Or perhaps she just likes cowboy films.
No comments:
Post a Comment