Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I don’t get it. If I’m ever going to get it, it’s going to be by seeing it, not reading about it. Reading about it, this sounds like art torture. A lot of art films are like that, though... genuine art films. Not something that Miramax spent $45 million trying to open, but films that were made for no other reason than because someone thought it was worthwhile.
Remember that as you read this decription... someone thought this was worthwhile, sight unseen, and funded this. And reading about it, I can’t imagine who would think, “Let’s see, I could burn this spare money, I could eat it, or I could just throw it in the street. How do I get rid of this? Well, I suppose I could invest it in that series of insane sounding art films. That’d make sure I was poor pretty quickly.” That said, this might be incredible. I won’t know until I see it for myself. Let’s see what today’s scooper thought:
Despite living near NYC, I had never been to the Gugenhiem, so about a month ago I skipped work to check the place out. Much to my suprise, the entire museum has been taken over the the Cremaster exhibit. It's a multimedia presentation of 5 films, photograpy, sculture, video, astroturf, and not a little satire. The installation and films are massive and baffling, but luckily they have free one hour tours that sort of explain things for you. Instead of babbling for an hour, I'll quote the Gugenhiem's website here as the 7 hour film series and art installation is almost incomprehensable without the 357 page guide (conviently on sale in the gift shop):
"Matthew Barney's epic Cremaster cycle (1994–2002) is a self-enclosed aesthetic system consisting of five feature-length films that explore processes of creation. The cycle unfolds not just cinematically, but also through the photographs, drawings, sculptures, and installations the artist produces in conjunction with each episode. Its conceptual departure point is the male cremaster muscle, which controls testicular contractions in response to external stimuli. The project is rife with anatomical allusions to the position of the reproductive organs during the embryonic process of sexual differentiation: Cremaster 1 represents the most "ascended" or undifferentiated state, Cremaster 5 the most "descended" or differentiated. The cycle repeatedly returns to those moments during early sexual development in which the outcome of the process is still unknown—in Barney's metaphoric universe, these moments represent a condition of pure potentiality."
Cremaster one is my favorite, and is essentially a ballet performed on a blue astroturf field and in a blimp. It's perfect harmony, weird, and beutiful. The second is a narrative gothic western about a serial killer, his mother, and Jonny Cash. It's based on a true story, only it's mixed up and hallicinatory. Symbols that appear in this film come back in the latter films. Its point is how parental figures, be they real or imagined, can shape the way a person reacts to gender. The third of the films deals with the trials of becoming a Freemason and is your basic "hero quest", another is a motorcycle race on the Isle of Mann, and the final film is a bleak operatte where the protaganist must finally become a gender. I have to admit that I'm going simply on memory here. It's not realy 5 films, it's more like one 5 part film that sets forth a whole philosophy/mythology so they all blend together into one at times, with the exception of the first and final one. That's the point, I think.
It's a monumental work, the brillance of wich comes into strong conflict with my usual distaste for modern art that is, in the end, all about the artist. In creating a self contained mythology Barney is almost overindulgent and uses symbolism that only apeals or is understandable to him. His gender nuerosis at times seems trite, and his feeling that both genders are flawed is never fleshed out. His obsession with the Freemasons is overbearing and annoying. Flashes of pure inventive and stylistic brilliance, like the honeycomb barbels sculpted of salt and the final, beautiful operetta sung on video by Ursula Andress come into conflict with some cliche that threatens to sink the whole poject. Using potatos to symbolise Ireland and the use of a gothic western based on a true story as the whole of Cremaster 2 are just two examples. I suppose it's almost impossible for such a grand undertaking to be perfect but some self editing would have done the exhibit wonders.
Cremaster contains all the good and bad of modern art and is, thanks to it's almost equal flashes of brillance and juvinellia, never boring. What it isn't, however, is a masterwork that will enrapture people in the future. One can only hope that it will be looked at as the first step of a revolutionary artist. He is only 36. This is the type of work that is typicaly attempted as the capstone of a career. He is either going to sink under his own self importance and hype or become more revelutionary. I can't wait to see what he does next.
I post, on rare occasins, as Larry of Arabia. You can credit me that way if you use this.
Dude... I’m still not getting it. That description sounds deranged.
"Moriarty" out.
