Les Enfantes Clairvoyantes does not appeal to our rational, logical selves. It tugs at our sentimentality and the commonalities of the human experience. It thrives on our ability to interpret and understand someone else’s world. It straddles the boundaries between “high” and “low” art (if you believe in such distinctions), and between figuration and abstraction. The piece’s ability to comfortably rest in these boundary spaces is what catches the viewer’s interest in unfolding its narrative.
For much of western art history, only very specific forms of art making were considered canonical. We have had the privilege, in recent times, to be able to see and consider graphical imagery in a fine art context. Rich’s work relies heavily on a history of graphic imagery and symbols to make itself understood, and it does desire to be understood. This piece does not exist as an exercise in color and form, as something simply to be looked at and enjoyed. It practically begs to be read and understood. This work exists, most surely in the realm of communication.
It is clear that Les Enfantes Clairvoyantes occupies a mental space. This is not a representation of the real world. The splayed, impossible legs of the table, the strange blobs of color creating form, the wobbly, simple lines and the hovering hand in the upper right corner could not exist in the real world. This imagined space operates much like abstract expressionism or Chinese court painting; it sieves the world into its essential components, into the bare, pure essence of representation.
Examining the title, Les Enfantes Clairvoyantes (The Clairvoyant Children), is the major entry point into what this piece is trying to convey outside of its subject matter. When you connect the title of the piece to its attempt to display essential, primal parts, you find an attempt to show the world with a level of innocence, of adolescent wonder. Even the forms are rendered in a vaguely childlike manner. This notion also connects to parts of the subject matter. In the upper left corner is a record player, and two people sit on a couch in the lower right, seemingly listening to the music. We attach feelings of purity and elevation to music. We feel as though they exist on a level above the small, petty feelings of everyday life, that by listening to music and looking at art, we elevate our human condition.
I also take note of the fact we are looking down on this scene from above. Maybe I’m reaching, but I feel this aerial view connects the piece with some sense of spirituality. The air is the realm of ephemera and spirits, of the mind and soul. I cannot help but feeling this piece communicates notions of connecting to our spiritual selves through music and art.
Les Enfantes Clairvoyantes also evokes strong feelings of nostalgia. The record player is a relatively unused piece of equipment today, although not completely banished as a small group of enthusiasts keep the medium alive. The color scheme does not feel contemporary either. The salmon pink floor and green couch speak to the late 70’s. I think it is nigh on impossible to remove some feelings of nostalgia when dealing with the subject of adolescence. Whether it is from a record player, or the cassettes/CD’s of my own youth, we all have sat together with friends and family to listen to music. We all have memories of music, and I feel Rich’s work is an attempt to reconnect to this part of his life, whether he is depicted in the piece or not. Like a modern day cave painting in Lascaux, It is a way to ritualize important aspects of our lives in a primal unfiltered way.
When I look at Les Enfantes Clairvoyantes, I am reminded of the work of Ralph Steadman. Granted, this lacks the maniac intensity of Steadman’s work, but the execution is similar, if tempered. I am also, in a strange way, reminded of David Hockney. The strange table and record player remind me, in particular, of his reverse perspective chairs. I think Hockney’s connection to pop art, and the desire to interpret the world as a beautiful place with beautiful ideas and people (albeit with strange undertones) connect strongly with this work, although the execution is widely different. I think this work is interesting; it draws the viewer in and asks it to understand, to make sense of it all. I will openly admit I am still puzzled by the hand and eye in the upper right corner in connection with the rest of the scene, and the slightly off salmon color of what I assume is the floor gives me a queasy feeling after a while. Overall though, I find the work arresting. It strews clues across its surface and asks me to put them all together, which I find engaging.
First I want to say thank you, Blake, for engaging your energies.
ReplyDeleteI find Blake’s critique of my work to be quite thoughtful and intuitive. There was indeed some influence in its creation from abstract expressionism. Blake is also keen to note the work’s attempt to subvert structures of rational thinking. This work does seek to come to an understanding with the viewer. The work began as automatic drawing and largely takes influence and inspiration from both existential and surrealist literature. What is represented is largely experiential of both outward and inward states of being. These ‘children’ may be markedly naïve, however, only in the sense that to be such a thing is to transcend cynicism, rational thought, or regularity. They operate in a space which connects the internal and external in a higher form of reality, albeit a dangerous, demanding one. Here, efforts and intrigues toward the hidden are seen not as a psychological attempt to control the uncontrollable, but as taking a responsibility for and creating one’s own state of being. The childlike style of drawing invokes an attempt to let the subconscious speak outwardly, and we find ourselves in a strange room that I have seen before. The figures are localized in their consciousness, as the details of their activities are slightly more defined than their surroundings. There are objects in the room that are likely not present in this print, and even the boundaries of the room have eluded description. This space is largely undefined. Things across the room have possibly become strange and should be impossible for them to ignore. The awareness that the figures have to objects and ‘symbols’ in their surroundings is ambiguous, and given much consideration, their seeming lack of reaction could be considered concerning. Having said all of this, it is best that I say little more.
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