Jason Dodge / Tereza Buskova
Gallery One One One, London, UK
Jason Dodge, Ringing Through Chimneys, A bell attached to the brush of chimney sweep Jörg Häuseler during the spring chimney cleaning in a neighborhood in Berlin (2007)
‘Rituals’, currently showing at Gallery One One One, comprises two separate solo shows that are linked loosely by the themes of narrative and performance. In the ground floor space is US artist Jason Dodge, showing a number of sculptural works of what appear to be randomly compiled objects, all of which are brought to life through carefully devised captions that reveal the objects’ back-stories. A humble pile of cut pieces of cotton, in various grey-green hues, are unveiled as pockets cut from the trousers of five people of different professions – a pilot, window washer, acrobat, ballet dancer, judge – placed in ‘order of altitude’, while another caption proclaims a nearby narrow tube to be ‘filled with seeds of poison hemlock’.
In Dodge’s work, the performances all take place off stage, and we are left to imagine the events ourselves from the tales woven by his captions. The artist requests a significant degree of complicity here, asking that we accept his stories in order to give substance to an otherwise disparate – and potentially dissatisfying – set of objects. By choosing to believe that the bell hanging from the gallery ceiling has indeed rung through the chimneys of a Berlin neighbourhood during a spring chimney cleaning, or that a taxidermied owl contains rubies (as Dodge claims in other captions), vigor and intrigue are added to the inanimate objects. Dodge also emphasizes an innate sentimentality here too, playing upon our desire to imbue the materials around us with memories and meaning.
While most of Dodge’s sculptures appear to contain evidence of past events, one makes time itself central to the work: a corner of the gallery is filled with silver trumpets and trombones lying silently beneath clear plastic. Here the caption reads: ‘they are waiting for you at the monument. they (the brass band is) waiting for you at the monument’ – a more ambiguous tag than in Dodge’s other works. Once again the artist is referring to an event occurring elsewhere but his use of the present tense is at odds with the clinical display of the instruments, which hints that the caption itself is the relic here and that the opportunity to meet the band at the monument has long since passed.
Tereza Buskova, The Wedding Flower (2008)
After Dodge’s cool display, entering the downstairs space, where photographs and a film by Tereza Buskova are exhibited, takes a little adjustment. Theatre and fantasy are at the forefront of Buskova’s works, which play out scenes of a wedding filled with ritualistic intensity, alongside an undercurrent of something more discomforting. The bride is heavily made-up so that she wears only a haughty, angry expression, topped by an elaborate veil or headpiece, which is also displayed in the gallery. The performance here is an overtly sexual one, with the bride at times found stalking virtually naked through a garden setting, or cavorting provocatively in her bridal gown.
Czech-born Buskova draws on Eastern European folk traditions and symbolism in the works, but presents them with neither subtlety nor explanation, so that the ritualistic imagery appears confusingly sinister. But perhaps this is her point: these rituals are steeped in a language of imagery that can be elusive to outsiders. When shown alongside Dodge, however, Buskova’s work feels exaggerated and melodramatic, quite lacking in the depth of storytelling that his enigmatic sculptures contain. While rich in exotic imagery, they offer little that truly intrigues.
Eliza Williams
Responses
Added by Jo_Hurlow,
As a doctor I lack academic knowledge of the fine arts & as I am marrying Buskova I clearly lack any detachment to allow me to make any reasonable comments. However, I can not pass by certain complex debates and such enticing written provocation.
I congratulate Dodge on his now widespread acclaim that he has received following his first solo show in the UK. I am pleased that this critic with their expertise in this arena has spent time to try to engage with Tereza’s work publicly.
However, if the web editor allows me as such a biased individual, the chance to make a fool of myself, I must raise a few areas that could benefit from further discussion. There is an underlying confliction that Honore has conjured up with his thoughtful curating. Our critic has walked in and laid this bare in black and white, characterising Dodge as the deep enigmatic artist and Buskova as the superficial purveyor of exaggerated melodrama.
I would argue that this is achieved by juxtaposing the more explicitly conceptual artist with his minimal sensory stimuli above the implicitly conceptual artist with her maximal sensory stimuli. Apologies for making use of the partially ‘elusive’ language of mental pseudoscience, but perhaps surrounding yourselves in the elusive & exotic should not be characterised in a negative light.
The critic has opted to explore their own thoughts with a gentle rationalised prompt from Dodge’s low affect objects. She has somewhat diplomatically rejected the opportunity to engage with the chaotic and highly affect laden interplay of Buskova’s screen prints, construct and film.
I would not want to foster bitterness from an expert, but I would argue that she too quickly conflates this reflection with the excessive presumption that her highly stimulating works full of disordered emotive symbolism; are in fact works of melodrama, shallow story telling and little intrigue.
In these days of ever advancing detailed emotionally detached concepts, perhaps there is value in recalling the ‘commons sense’ fact that humans do not have simple stories to tell. We still haphazardly feel, indulge in the exotic, bath in sexuality and dream. If our writers of ‘fact’ cast too negative a light on the unexplained chaotic world of emotionally driven dreamlike works. Then perhaps they will be throwing out the most intriguing baby with the bath water.
Expect explanation and rationalised works to act alone and we will throw away the most ‘royal road to the unconscious’. What could hold more intrigue than that which we do not presently know? I advise you to be braver and take Honore’s middle road. Explore the world of Dodge’s finely executed concepts, but alongside the realms driven more heavily by Buskova’s unruly feelings.
Added by Zoesimon,
As Buskowa’s model and long-term collaborator I am also moved to comment on this article, not out of bitterness or anger, but because I feel the need to share my perspective on the work, and feel that the critic has made some snap judgements. First on a technical note, I want to say that Buskowa’s images are actually prints, not photograps as the critic wrote, Buskowa graduated from the RCA’s Printmaking MA in 2007. It is important, I feel that a critic should know the technical nature of artist’s work, but also, in the case of Buskowa, I feel that the disciline she has graduated in not only informs her work, but partly explains it - printmaking being a painstaking process of constructing layers - just as Buskowa constructs layers of reality. As to the critics charge that Buskowa’s work is melodramatic, overly theatrical and somewhat simplistic compared to Jason Dodge’s, as an actress I believe that the skill and beauty of theatre lies in its ability to present profound aspects of the human condition in a way that is clear and seemingly simple. I agree with the critic that Busowa’s work is ‘steeped in the language of imagery’ but do not see why this is a negative thing. Buskowa, like all great artists, is attempting to create a new aesthetic and a new visual language, so why, or even how, could the critic sum up Buskowa’s work with words?
Added by rlhsoft,
The job of an artist, in my humble opinion, is to evoke an emotional response from the observer, and boy, has Tereza done that with our reviewer and critic! It seems to me that Eliza confuses her own response with objective observation and then compounds the error by comparing and contrasting Tereza’s work that of Jason Dodge. They are apples and pears.
Tereza’s body of work (and I have been lucky to see lots of it) is rich, provocative and heady and can take some getting used to. She does not compromise in her attempt to communicate to the audience what lies in her imagination. But it is also highly skilled, carefully wrought and accomplished. Not exaggerated and certainly not melodramatic and does not deserve such trivialising labels.
Take some time to get to know Tereza’s work and you will be rewarded.
