artconcerns.com,feb2008

Mysterium Tremendum*

Young British artist, Barbara Ash recently presented her sculptural installations at Bangalore’s No.1.Shanthi Road. Reminding the human beings of their mortality through the play of sweet kitsch, the artist made a strong statement, says Rollie Mukherjee in her review.

“Dance footloose on the earth” was the title of the show by Barbara Ash at No.1, Shanthi Road, Bangalore from 2nd to 6th January 2008. Barbara Ash is an English sculptor and this sculpture installation was part of her project which was conceived during her artist’s residency at the Bangalore Art centre. The Title is a take from Horace’s Odes which says –“now is the time to drink, now is the time to dance footloose on the earth” which calls for a celebration as life is momentary and it is going to end. The whole of the gallery space was converted into a surreal wonder land, inviting the viewer to embark a playful journey towards the mysterious and serious questions of existence.

At first when you enter, a colossal 7 ½ feet thermo coal Bunny rabbit encounters us, dominating the Fairy world she has created. The flowers done in Polystyrene P.V.A Plasticine, toy cars done in Fiber Glass, simple floral layout on the ground in pink rangoli are done almost with a child like innocence and expressive ends. You are lost in the fantastic world of the ‘twee’ (sweet Kitsch). But under these kitschy layers are deep questions of existence, authority and hegemony.

This kitschy colourful fairy world works at two levels- as sumptuous consumption and also as a wrap. It hides any physical signs of mortality/ decay. The electrified blue coloured foetuses( only 4inches) lying at each regular interval is surrounded by the mandala of flowers which acts as roads and signs of skull over it as a decorative motive is used as memento-mori (an object kept as a reminder that death is inevitable). Thus at one level she makes us celebrate the nature force which is all surpassing and in plentitude and on the other she brings in the issue of death and the fast paced materialistic world. In this dialectical relationship there is a woven oxymoron which creates a disorder in the stability of an otherwise fictional world and engenders moments of ambivalence/ disruption or vulnerability. Thus she combines the pleasurable with something which is terrifying. It’s inherently threatening because the elements of nature which loom large over humans who are oblivious about their death.

Her works demand “readings” as a text. Sometimes the meaning is continuous and at other times intimately discontinuous. It simultaneously operates literally and allegorically; from aesthetic to philosophical. She has perceived a fragmentary/ non linear approach where the meaning lies in zigzagging levels. She titles different pieces separately but put them under the unitary linking title “dance footloose on earth”.
There is a network of interconnected themes. Also there is a constant flux/ play between what is emphasized and what is de-emphasized like the colossal 7’1/2 feet bunny as authoritative or the vacuum cleaner as labour saving device, western dream as a man driving a car, development as turtle. This creates ambivalence.

In her recent installation one also cant avoid the dynamics of inter cultural dialogue where she sees the conflict between the two societies of England and India from the spectre of binary which is fixed. She uses Hoover or the white man driving the open top sports car as a symbol of technocratic, materialistic west and turtle as symbol of slow pace underdeveloped pristine world untouched by so much of modernization. She is of course more critical of her own culture (western) but she sees India as timeless world unaffected by the globalized, commodified and undergoing a neo-liberalization process.
Thus she avoids seeing the “orient” which is far more complex and heterogeneous. She negates to see the orient as untouched by western colonialism and imperialism which has brought in a complex heterogeneous plural world order. There is a denial to see the postcolonial societies where the elements of tradition and modern cultures collide and form a very anachronistic hybridity which could be perplexing for a western eye.

But by pulling all our attention to the world of material and human’s impending mortality one enters into the larger question of power/ authority which rules our life. Is the huge imposing figure of a bunny rabbit shown as an authoritative like state head or patriarchal head? Or is it the power of nature over technology? Thus her work is intense and operates in an open ended manner and gives way to varied interpretations and pulls us in different directions. Again a reversal where one is reminded by her how any time nature can show its vengeance. There is a terror sublime created where the vast nature appears annihilating or threatening mankind who in their race for pleasure accumulation and luxury.

If one sees her entire body of works done between 1998 to 2007 there is a stylistic/ thematic continuity that preoccupied the artist for years. Her deliberate choice of child like form and popular kitschy colors makes her work significant when one sees it in the context of class and gender issue. Clement Greenberg used the term kitsch as derogation and his version of modernism gained universality and strategically this left out the experiences and creation of women/ non-white, non-western cultures. Thus on these lines her work becomes a strong voice against this. Her work whether it is engaging with gender issue or alienation always talks about existentialist alienation and materialism.
By using teddy bear as Eve she refuses to represent female body which calls for male gaze. By making it sit authoritatively and in one work even her size is larger than Adam she fractures successfully the so called stereotypical designation the patriarchy labels women as sexual, fragile and subservient. Eve becomes an irresistible symbol of power and strength in her hand and also by using the teddy bear image as eve she dissatisfies men and refuses to portray woman as objectified /commodified form. The eve looks like a child and is non-sensuous and it is this which makes it looks sweet and lovable.

She also attacks the catholic obsession with virginity. The works ‘Sitting pretty’(2001), ‘All that glitters’(2002) , ‘Play things’(2005) brings in this dilemma of the female existence which is caught up in religiosity and morality norms set by society.
Her use of allegory and the created surreal dreamy world is so open-ended that it always leaves scope for the reader for his meanings. Another interesting thing about her work is that sometimes symbol ceases to operate as a symbol and just stands for itself. The gigantic peacock (Oxbridge Strut,1995), though she connects it to humanity’s pride can also be read as standing for itself ie nature itself which appears to be supreme and acts as a synedoche of its absence/ presence - as nature’s ghost in the age of industrial globalization and seems to threaten mankind with its sublimity. Her language oscillates between something familiar and something fantastic, literal and metaphoric. She breaks the “author” as an authorial owner of his or her meaning and leaves the work as a text which can be read and reread and is free to create a subtext even at times counter text.

* The title of the essay is taken from Rudolf Otto’s concept of Mysterium Tremendum (mystery that makes you tremble)