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Three splendid exhibits currently at the Brooklyn Museum of Art deserve your attention, and two of them are reviewed below: Walton Ford's astounding watercolors in Tigers of Wrath and the lifelike sculptures of Ron Mueck. (The third—photographs by Annie Leibovitz—received enough attention elsewhere that I can safely omit discussion here.)
Dozens of Walton Ford's enormous watercolors center on exotic animals, birds, and some extinct species, depicting a vibrant and lush animal world, one clearly and constantly threatened by the encroachment of humans. Ford's own scholarship on everything from natural history to evolution to Audobon is clearly in evidence, with his elegant script scrawled across various paintings. While the tougher animals of the mammal kingdom can here appear as threatened as the extinct giant auk, Walton's vivid depictions of encroached habitats combined with a brilliant flair for explicating the inexplicable makes for a truly powerful and haunting show. Ford's commentary on the dark side of human interaction with the animal world fascinates both adult and child; it was rather curious to watch parents of small children attempt to explain the often-bewildering paintings, some of which defy explanation to even the most over-educated adult. In particular, depictions of the pressure points on an elephant ("the animal will die"; "the animal will be infuriated"; etc.) hearkens back both to an ancient Sanskrit text as well as the modern Burmese Timber Elephant by U Toke Gale, a book it appears Ford came in contact with on his extensive zoological inquires into this lonely planet. Ford's constant and obscure references from scholars of past centuries greatly enhance his watercolors, forging a bond with the natural world of yesteryear disappearing all-too-quickly in these modern times.
Although Ron Mueck's lifelike human sculptures of various sizes and proportions are well-known, some techniques he has adopted more recently have made his newer work even more dazzling than before. By utilizing more silicone, the form of the human body he depicts seems ever more realistic, and his implanting of hair is particularly astounding in this show. For example, the disshelved hair gives much credence to the two shrunken hags of Two Women (2005), whose elderly appearance is augmented by the artist's placing them in typical granny coats, dark stockings and sensible shoes. Though only 33 inches high, they nevertheless seem strikingly real, staring off into the distance from atop a pedestal. Larger sculptures such as Mask II (2001-2) and Big Man (2000) and the more recent In Bed (2005) are truly extraordinary; the form of their noses, limbs, hair and in particular facial hair on Mask II seems frighteningly realistic. A great behind-the-scenes Flickr slideshow explores how Mueck installed this show, and moreover neatly encapsulates the incredible challenges behind assembling and displaying these sculptures. The Flickr set additionally shows the fascinating range of hair Mueck chooses to depict on his many sculptures. The multimedia section of Mueck’s installation further explores how the artist assembles his work, and some vitrines display various components utilized in the sculpting process. The tremendous scale of both these shows—the visitor seems dwarfed by both, not to mention the sheer number of photos in Leibovitz’s exhibit sandwiched in between—underscores again how the revitalized Brooklyn Museum with its vast collections can also mount several exciting exhibits simultaneously.
Tags:
annie leibovitz, brooklyn museum, ron mueck, tigers of wrath, walton ford
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Posted on 11/28/2006
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