In a basement not so far, far away from whence I came, I saw hell. Or, rather, the charred gates of hell, engulfed in flames, so papery thin that a devilish visitor could tear their way through them in an instant. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Swiss Institute
Lipstick-stained Teeth and Americana Altars: Walter Pfeiffer’s Perfect Shots at the Swiss Institute
Two sultry gazes stare sightlessly from a weathered window or a picture frame as if stolen from the bedroom wall of a fanatical teenage girl in 1955. James Dean and Elvis Presley, icons of mid-20th century rebels without causes. Ripping it up, hip thrusting, jailhouse rocking, Vampira attracting, drag racing, they are double martyrs to … Continue reading
Do Clothes Liberate Our Bodies Or Restrict Them?: Confusion And Potentialities In “Life And Limbs”
The politics of liberation are essentially corporeal. The struggle for free will—for subjecthood—is defined by the ease and unease of the body. The fear of hunger is physical; the wretched horror of deprivation is one of bodily need. All emotional despair is felt as corporeal absence or excess. If I am so wretchedly miserable that … Continue reading
Valley of the Dollhouses: The Uncanny Abject In Mathis Altmann’s ‘Foul Matters’
It’s hard to argue with the startling statement of two–hopefully–plastic turds plopped on delicately ornate dollhouse beds. Hung purposefully a little too high on the wall, viewers have to crane their necks to peek at the poop. However, nothing quite prepares you for the confrontation of the appalling yet appealing combination of the uncanny and the … Continue reading
Stone Cold or Warm Flesh: Bodies in Galleries These Days
Since artists started to travel at full speed through the paths of experimenting with every genre and material possible, the idea of the body has fallen into a constant shift in its form. Marisol’s carved wood robust humans, Willem de Kooning’s highly abstracted Woman series, and more recently John Currin’s ode to Mannerism era with … Continue reading
Alpine Breeze in July: Swiss Institute’s Summer Exhibition ‘A Sunday in the Mountains’
Heidi to me has always been one of the most atypical cartoon characters ever. Adventures of this orphan Alpine girl had such an indefinable melancholy that it has never failed giving me unusual blues. Besides her provincial innocence and naivety, Heidi was always undeniably quiet, calm and placid, just like her homeland Switzerland. Continue reading