Marianne Vitale
14 Sep - 25 Oct 2013
MARIANNE VITALE
Huey, Dewey & Louie
14 September - 25 October 2013
The American artist Marianne Vitale (b. 1973), who lives in New York, presents her first solo exhibition in Austria at the Kunstraum Innsbruck. Its title, "Huey, Dewey & Louie," refers to the names of Donald Duck's three nephews and, by association, hints at the number of sculptures shown, but that seems to be all. In her exhibition, the artist outlines a complex system of historical references, be they artistic or social, by way of which she examines the socialisation of artistic practice.
The sculptures consist of wood and metal and represent various bridge models, each of them resting on a barbecue construction (fitted with a spit). The models correspond to actually existing bridges, built during the opening up of the North American continent in the 18th century. To guarantee their stability, it was necessary to protect them from water and inclement weather with roofs. Timber construction was replaced by the use of iron and concrete only in the course of the 19th century. Only one of the bridges exemplifies the transition from timber to steel construction, or to the traditional architecture of railway bridges still using timber. In the same vein, the barbecue quotes an archetypal symbol of North American culture. It represents the bonfires and the irrepressible thirst for freedom and adventure of the cowboys, who live on today as a masculine model in a more domesticated form on the verandas and in the gardens of the suburbs. The artist likes to rally her friends around her in order to celebrate the burning of her wooden models in the great outdoors. In this way, Vitale turns the event into a somewhat magical and social act, while also exploring through the ritual the heterogeneity and the discontinuities of a folk culture long gone.
The artist deliberately exposes her models to fire. What remains of the originally solid construction is nothing but charred wood, even though the barbecue itself gives no indication as to the process of combustion, as the unused and empty metal trays attest. As an inspiration the artist quotes the famous saying: "Never burn your bridges, you may need to cross them again." By burning her bridges, Marianne Vitale does not run the risk of cutting off the way back, though, she rather raises the important question in which way history and identity relate to each other.
The barbecue becomes the pedestal supporting the wooden sculpture and gives the overall structure a certain monumentality, while the bridge itself appears even more out of context and scaled down. Even though the metal construction soberly and clearly stands on four legs, it would be quite wrong to view it as a reference to Minimal Art. The reason lies with Minimal Art's conception of the sculpture as a primary entity, which is neither increased through adding elements nor does it give narrative hints through its form. What Max Ernst said about Surrealism might be a better clue to understanding Marianne Vitale's artistic practice. The rearranging of objects does not seem to be motivated by aesthetic reflections, but by the intention of giving them a surreal and paradoxical air. As Max Ernst says in his Surrealist manifesto: "Today, the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table (Lautréamont) is a notorious, almost a classical example of the phenomenon, discovered by the Surrealists, that the coming together of two (or more) seemingly incompatible elements on a plane unrelated to them produces the strongest poetic spark."[1]
Although fire, in keeping with the symbolism of the phoenix rising from the ashes, also holds a positive and cleansing meaning, it is not renewal that is the main aspect here, but a critical examination undertaken by the artist of her own practice. What fuels the genesis of a work of art or the socialisation of an artist identity? Vitale appropriates various references, without wanting to verify them as to their sources, though, or to comment on them. With her surreal combination of bridge building and barbecue, she deconstructs the masculine codes of our day and age, which echo the cowboy culture of the bonfire and American postmodern sculpture, and sees their inherent claim to monumentality and superiority through the poetic lens of self-ironic failure.
[1] Transl. from Max Ernst: "Was ist Surrealismus?," in: Was ist Surrealismus?, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthaus Zürich, 14.10.–4.11.1934, pp. 3–7, in: Harrison, Charles/Wood, Paul (eds.): Kunsttheorie im 20. Jahrhundert, vol. 1, 1998, Ostfildern-Ruit, Verlag Gerd Hatje (Engl.: Art in Theory 1900–1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Oxford (UK) and Cambridge (USA): Blackwell Publishers, 1992).
Huey, Dewey & Louie
14 September - 25 October 2013
The American artist Marianne Vitale (b. 1973), who lives in New York, presents her first solo exhibition in Austria at the Kunstraum Innsbruck. Its title, "Huey, Dewey & Louie," refers to the names of Donald Duck's three nephews and, by association, hints at the number of sculptures shown, but that seems to be all. In her exhibition, the artist outlines a complex system of historical references, be they artistic or social, by way of which she examines the socialisation of artistic practice.
The sculptures consist of wood and metal and represent various bridge models, each of them resting on a barbecue construction (fitted with a spit). The models correspond to actually existing bridges, built during the opening up of the North American continent in the 18th century. To guarantee their stability, it was necessary to protect them from water and inclement weather with roofs. Timber construction was replaced by the use of iron and concrete only in the course of the 19th century. Only one of the bridges exemplifies the transition from timber to steel construction, or to the traditional architecture of railway bridges still using timber. In the same vein, the barbecue quotes an archetypal symbol of North American culture. It represents the bonfires and the irrepressible thirst for freedom and adventure of the cowboys, who live on today as a masculine model in a more domesticated form on the verandas and in the gardens of the suburbs. The artist likes to rally her friends around her in order to celebrate the burning of her wooden models in the great outdoors. In this way, Vitale turns the event into a somewhat magical and social act, while also exploring through the ritual the heterogeneity and the discontinuities of a folk culture long gone.
The artist deliberately exposes her models to fire. What remains of the originally solid construction is nothing but charred wood, even though the barbecue itself gives no indication as to the process of combustion, as the unused and empty metal trays attest. As an inspiration the artist quotes the famous saying: "Never burn your bridges, you may need to cross them again." By burning her bridges, Marianne Vitale does not run the risk of cutting off the way back, though, she rather raises the important question in which way history and identity relate to each other.
The barbecue becomes the pedestal supporting the wooden sculpture and gives the overall structure a certain monumentality, while the bridge itself appears even more out of context and scaled down. Even though the metal construction soberly and clearly stands on four legs, it would be quite wrong to view it as a reference to Minimal Art. The reason lies with Minimal Art's conception of the sculpture as a primary entity, which is neither increased through adding elements nor does it give narrative hints through its form. What Max Ernst said about Surrealism might be a better clue to understanding Marianne Vitale's artistic practice. The rearranging of objects does not seem to be motivated by aesthetic reflections, but by the intention of giving them a surreal and paradoxical air. As Max Ernst says in his Surrealist manifesto: "Today, the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table (Lautréamont) is a notorious, almost a classical example of the phenomenon, discovered by the Surrealists, that the coming together of two (or more) seemingly incompatible elements on a plane unrelated to them produces the strongest poetic spark."[1]
Although fire, in keeping with the symbolism of the phoenix rising from the ashes, also holds a positive and cleansing meaning, it is not renewal that is the main aspect here, but a critical examination undertaken by the artist of her own practice. What fuels the genesis of a work of art or the socialisation of an artist identity? Vitale appropriates various references, without wanting to verify them as to their sources, though, or to comment on them. With her surreal combination of bridge building and barbecue, she deconstructs the masculine codes of our day and age, which echo the cowboy culture of the bonfire and American postmodern sculpture, and sees their inherent claim to monumentality and superiority through the poetic lens of self-ironic failure.
[1] Transl. from Max Ernst: "Was ist Surrealismus?," in: Was ist Surrealismus?, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthaus Zürich, 14.10.–4.11.1934, pp. 3–7, in: Harrison, Charles/Wood, Paul (eds.): Kunsttheorie im 20. Jahrhundert, vol. 1, 1998, Ostfildern-Ruit, Verlag Gerd Hatje (Engl.: Art in Theory 1900–1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Oxford (UK) and Cambridge (USA): Blackwell Publishers, 1992).