Rodney Graham – That’s Not Me (Baltic 2017)
Rodney Graham – That’s Not Me, recently held at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle in the UK, posed the central question ‘What does it mean to consider yourself an artist today?’ Through combining various media in which the Canadian artist Rodney Graham (b. 1949) works, his ‘genre-defying’ (exhib. guide) practice variously answered this question. While this was not without some fair effort on the part of the spectator, in return for this, the curators had afforded plenty of space in which to explore ideas and reach divergent conclusions.
Most prominent among the exhibits for their manner of display, size and preponderance were the large-format photographs, mounted in lightboxes, which appeared to document quite unremarkable scenes, such as a lighthouse keeper warming his feet as he snoozes in his kitchen (‘Lighthouse Keeper with Lighthouse Model, 1955’, 2010). Alone after a day’s work, we imagine that the model of the lighthouse (presumably a replica of its custodian’s dwelling) is drying after a recent application of paint or varnish, or the attachment of some miniature architectural feature. This is a finely rendered, realistic shot, consuming in its size and attractive in its presentation: one senses the lighthouse keeper’s human presence in his near life-size display, and in so doing comes to participate in the intimacy of the moment portrayed – the spectator becomes a snooping witness to this man’s slumber, stealing curious glances at the details of the uncanny domestic scene. The intensity of the desire to animate the still scene, imagining what came before and what might happen next is reminiscent of Sandy Skoglund’s (b. 1946) idea of a ‘film in a frame’ (Jeffrey: 424) and a testament to the artist as someone who engages an audience to conjure up ideas for themselves.
Identity and creativity
Moving on to other exhibits, one notices that the model in all the shots is Graham himself. In the guises he assumes across the assemblage of photographs on display, we see the artist as a figure of shifting identities: in one the lighthouse keeper, but in another just recognisable as a chef smoking a cigarette beneath a tree (‘Betula Pendula Fastigiata (Sous Chef on Smoke Break)’, 2011). In staging scenes where he adopts characters, does Graham seek to present a narrative about himself, or to show today’s artist as a chameleon? Does he challenge or reinforce the individual?
Reading ‘Lighthouse Keeper’ and ‘Betula Pendula Fastigiata’ for their content, what unifies them in presenting comparable moments of people at rest is their subjects’ shared capacity for creation: the lighthouse keeper who has skilfully glued together and decorated a replica of his chief responsibility, and the chef who (while temporarily on a break) ordinarily devotes his creativity to gastronomy. Such an interpretation is confirmed by adjunct photographs, namely ‘Smoke Break 2 (Drywaller)’ (2012) and ‘Actor/Director, 1954’ (2013). Respectively, Graham is shown as a drywaller atop stilts, resting from his labour – a skilled and creative job, albeit not traditionally artistic – and an actor-cum-director filming a scene. The elaborate garb of the latter and lurid colours of his camera contrast with the austerity of the drywaller’s mise-en-scene, reflecting their differing contributions as creators: the one who fixes up a room versus the other who helps audiences imagine the world differently.
Comparisons with the work of Cindy Sherman (b. 1954) are tempting. Through her adoption of personas found in film noir, Rosalind Krauss suggests (quoted in Higgins: 122) that Sherman works to ‘unmask cultural myths’; although Graham does not make the same cultural references, below we see his inclination towards a similar ‘unmasking’. More recently, Rachel Maclean (b. 1987), who plays all the parts in her surreal video depictions of a world obsessed with identity and its re-presentation and manipulation through social media (e.g. in Tate Britain’s 2017 ‘WOT U :-) ABOUT?’), unsettles our confidence in the validity of the reality we inhabit.
Reworking art history
‘Drywaller’ and ‘Actor/Director’ are ‘Winter’ and ‘Spring’ to the ‘Summer’ of ‘Betula Pendula Fastigiata’, echoing the theme of the four seasons reproduced countless times historically in various media. ‘Autumn’ is represented by ‘Paddler, Mouth of the Seymour’ (2012-13) which hangs in the same discrete section of gallery as the other three photographs. Graham sits in a canoe gazing straight at us, aware of our observing him, in contrast with the sleeping lighthouse keeper and preoccupied sous-chef; his persona in ‘Paddler’ is not the creator-doer of the photographs so far considered, but a figure at rest from his recreational activity.
Here, the four seasons theme links Graham’s practice with history, but there is more besides. For ‘Paddler’, Graham was inspired by Thomas Eakins’s (1844-1916) painting ‘Max Schmitt in a Single Scull’ (1871), but ‘here [Graham] transposed the scene into a contemporary setting with [himself] playing a recreational kayaker pausing on a trip [upriver]’ (Hauser and Wirth: para. 8). By contrast with Eakins, Graham’s adaptation is ‘much less idyllic’ (ibid: para. 9). ‘Paddler’ and the series it belongs to carry the assumption that the history of art is also the present of artistic practice: time-worn themes can be renewed, and borrowing and inter-referencing between an artist’s practice and their forbears’ is regenerative, inevitable and happens across media. Underscoring this, the stated correlation between ‘Paddler’ and Eakins is reinforced by the subtler reference to abstract expressionism echoed in ‘Drywaller’ (WSI: para. 3). Graham’s four seasons ‘unmask’ the artist as heir to a legacy of influences and imageries and a performer of identities, and, in combination with the variety of media on display -- 16-millimetre films were also shown, as were the products of collaborations between the artist and publishers to update and reimagine literary works -- the figure of the artist comes to the fore as one with privileged access to certain freedoms but also a responsibility to create.
References
Hauser and Wirth (online; 2013). Rodney Graham: The Four Seasons. www.hauserwirth.com/exhibitions/1979/rodney-graham-the-four-seasons/view/
Higgins, J. (2013). Why It Does Not Have to Be in Focus. Thames and Hudson.
Jeffrey, I. (1997). The Photo Book. Phaidon.
Maclean, R. (2017). WOT U :-) ABOUT? Exhibition at Tate Britain.
WSI [Wall Street International] (online; 2013). Rodney Graham. https://wsimag.com/art/3007-rodney-graham
Most prominent among the exhibits for their manner of display, size and preponderance were the large-format photographs, mounted in lightboxes, which appeared to document quite unremarkable scenes, such as a lighthouse keeper warming his feet as he snoozes in his kitchen (‘Lighthouse Keeper with Lighthouse Model, 1955’, 2010). Alone after a day’s work, we imagine that the model of the lighthouse (presumably a replica of its custodian’s dwelling) is drying after a recent application of paint or varnish, or the attachment of some miniature architectural feature. This is a finely rendered, realistic shot, consuming in its size and attractive in its presentation: one senses the lighthouse keeper’s human presence in his near life-size display, and in so doing comes to participate in the intimacy of the moment portrayed – the spectator becomes a snooping witness to this man’s slumber, stealing curious glances at the details of the uncanny domestic scene. The intensity of the desire to animate the still scene, imagining what came before and what might happen next is reminiscent of Sandy Skoglund’s (b. 1946) idea of a ‘film in a frame’ (Jeffrey: 424) and a testament to the artist as someone who engages an audience to conjure up ideas for themselves.
Identity and creativity
Moving on to other exhibits, one notices that the model in all the shots is Graham himself. In the guises he assumes across the assemblage of photographs on display, we see the artist as a figure of shifting identities: in one the lighthouse keeper, but in another just recognisable as a chef smoking a cigarette beneath a tree (‘Betula Pendula Fastigiata (Sous Chef on Smoke Break)’, 2011). In staging scenes where he adopts characters, does Graham seek to present a narrative about himself, or to show today’s artist as a chameleon? Does he challenge or reinforce the individual?
Reading ‘Lighthouse Keeper’ and ‘Betula Pendula Fastigiata’ for their content, what unifies them in presenting comparable moments of people at rest is their subjects’ shared capacity for creation: the lighthouse keeper who has skilfully glued together and decorated a replica of his chief responsibility, and the chef who (while temporarily on a break) ordinarily devotes his creativity to gastronomy. Such an interpretation is confirmed by adjunct photographs, namely ‘Smoke Break 2 (Drywaller)’ (2012) and ‘Actor/Director, 1954’ (2013). Respectively, Graham is shown as a drywaller atop stilts, resting from his labour – a skilled and creative job, albeit not traditionally artistic – and an actor-cum-director filming a scene. The elaborate garb of the latter and lurid colours of his camera contrast with the austerity of the drywaller’s mise-en-scene, reflecting their differing contributions as creators: the one who fixes up a room versus the other who helps audiences imagine the world differently.
Comparisons with the work of Cindy Sherman (b. 1954) are tempting. Through her adoption of personas found in film noir, Rosalind Krauss suggests (quoted in Higgins: 122) that Sherman works to ‘unmask cultural myths’; although Graham does not make the same cultural references, below we see his inclination towards a similar ‘unmasking’. More recently, Rachel Maclean (b. 1987), who plays all the parts in her surreal video depictions of a world obsessed with identity and its re-presentation and manipulation through social media (e.g. in Tate Britain’s 2017 ‘WOT U :-) ABOUT?’), unsettles our confidence in the validity of the reality we inhabit.
Reworking art history
‘Drywaller’ and ‘Actor/Director’ are ‘Winter’ and ‘Spring’ to the ‘Summer’ of ‘Betula Pendula Fastigiata’, echoing the theme of the four seasons reproduced countless times historically in various media. ‘Autumn’ is represented by ‘Paddler, Mouth of the Seymour’ (2012-13) which hangs in the same discrete section of gallery as the other three photographs. Graham sits in a canoe gazing straight at us, aware of our observing him, in contrast with the sleeping lighthouse keeper and preoccupied sous-chef; his persona in ‘Paddler’ is not the creator-doer of the photographs so far considered, but a figure at rest from his recreational activity.
Here, the four seasons theme links Graham’s practice with history, but there is more besides. For ‘Paddler’, Graham was inspired by Thomas Eakins’s (1844-1916) painting ‘Max Schmitt in a Single Scull’ (1871), but ‘here [Graham] transposed the scene into a contemporary setting with [himself] playing a recreational kayaker pausing on a trip [upriver]’ (Hauser and Wirth: para. 8). By contrast with Eakins, Graham’s adaptation is ‘much less idyllic’ (ibid: para. 9). ‘Paddler’ and the series it belongs to carry the assumption that the history of art is also the present of artistic practice: time-worn themes can be renewed, and borrowing and inter-referencing between an artist’s practice and their forbears’ is regenerative, inevitable and happens across media. Underscoring this, the stated correlation between ‘Paddler’ and Eakins is reinforced by the subtler reference to abstract expressionism echoed in ‘Drywaller’ (WSI: para. 3). Graham’s four seasons ‘unmask’ the artist as heir to a legacy of influences and imageries and a performer of identities, and, in combination with the variety of media on display -- 16-millimetre films were also shown, as were the products of collaborations between the artist and publishers to update and reimagine literary works -- the figure of the artist comes to the fore as one with privileged access to certain freedoms but also a responsibility to create.
References
Hauser and Wirth (online; 2013). Rodney Graham: The Four Seasons. www.hauserwirth.com/exhibitions/1979/rodney-graham-the-four-seasons/view/
Higgins, J. (2013). Why It Does Not Have to Be in Focus. Thames and Hudson.
Jeffrey, I. (1997). The Photo Book. Phaidon.
Maclean, R. (2017). WOT U :-) ABOUT? Exhibition at Tate Britain.
WSI [Wall Street International] (online; 2013). Rodney Graham. https://wsimag.com/art/3007-rodney-graham
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