Marianne Dages’ “Distant Operator” at Napoleon
The Form Review is a simple attempt to increase dialogue within art journalism and highlight the subjectivity of a traditional exhibition review. Artists/curators/responsible parties of an exhibition are invited to respond to five short prompts. In turn, a representative of the St.Claire views the exhibition and independently responds to the same five prompts. Both sets of “form answers” are published in tandem on the St.Claire website. To participate drop us a line at hark@the-st-claire.com
(IMAGE: Courtesy of the artist)
Responses by Marianne Dages, Artist
1. What is hidden in this exhibition? What is in plain sight?
What is hidden: a stack of Fine Woodworking magazines. What is in plain sight: the night sky.
2. Who would be this exhibition’s parents? What might it’s children look like?
The father is a static recording of “Station to Station” by David Bowie, playing in an abandoned city square in winter. The mother is a worn copy of The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. The children look like canopic jars, are hard of hearing, and smell like the forest floor.
3. Describe one moment in this exhibition.
A small ferrotype photograph of a man in a hat, sitting on a horse. Both are in silhouette. The photograph is almost black and cracked with age.
4. This exhibition answers/asks the following question:
How do I read this?
5. You should message this exhibition if…
you ain’t afraid of no ghost.
Responses by Daniel Oliva, Guest Writter, The St.Claire
1. What is hidden in this exhibition? What is in plain sight?
A stack of woodworking magazines sits on the dusty gallery floorboards, unable to share stories since they are wrapped like a forbidden gift, not with paper, but a vault of polished lead. On the other hand, the white space between the objects, threads, papers, table legs and printed words generously allows for invisible thoughts to form.
2. Who would be this exhibition’s parents? What might it’s children look like?
It quietly echoes a passionate fling shared by Helen Mirra and Neil Young in some imagined corner of the Pacific Northwest. Its children will appear to be shredded studio discards, but once fed with moisture each one might reach far, as far as the Aleutian Islands for a single companion.
3. Describe one moment in this exhibition.
The moment you leave, stop, hang for a moment on the threshold, knowing you have witnessed a transformed space.
4. This exhibition answers/asks the following question:
Will the cherished tokens we hold today become some future viewer’s mysterious fragments?
5. You should message this exhibition if…
Dust can settle into a cloud, a pebble on a page begins a book, a pale bone plunges like an anchor towards the creaking floor, and you wonder if finding harmony is an object’s way of expressing love.
…
Marianne Dages “Distant Operator”
napoleonnapoleon.com/2014/12/11/marianne-dages-distant-operator/
ON VIEW:
January 1 – January 30, 2015
Napoleon Gallery
319 N. 11th St 2L
Philadelphia, PA 19107