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| Anna Gray + Ryan Wilson Paulsen. Object Lesson: Frames of War |
There is a whole spectrum of art pieces made from confiscated items looted from high-traffic places like airplane security checkpoints. These projects examine the items that naturally accumulate in particular circumstances, foregrounding the material evidence of human interactions.
I was recently art gallery hopping in Portland when I came across a collaborative piece by Anna Gray and Rayn Wilson at PDX Contemporary in which items were presented by the artists as if they were found. The pieces on display were essentially object-collages rather than non-fictional, pseudo-forensic samples.
I was recently art gallery hopping in Portland when I came across a collaborative piece by Anna Gray and Rayn Wilson at PDX Contemporary in which items were presented by the artists as if they were found. The pieces on display were essentially object-collages rather than non-fictional, pseudo-forensic samples.
One way the collages can be interpreted is that they represent the material lifestyle of those who engage in war and/or violent behavior. Read this way, Frames of War might conjure up the image of a soldier away from home and with a meager stash of ephemera, patriotic items, and pebbles and/ or ammunition s/he forgot s/he was keeping. Objects which are held dear intermingle with those consumed passingly, and in the collage, all are visible. This stash might also be the only trace of a life after the body is gone, the source of memory and the relic of remembrance.
On the other hand, the piece asks questions about the juxtaposition of objects, and the myths which objects both emanate and engender.
In the context of war, what is the meaning we apply to handcuffs, or handguns, or maps, or illicit photos, when they are linked like forensic evidence to the war setting? Do the objects come off as less harmful or more so? Moreover, questions arise such as if it is the gun, or the soldier's hand responsible for violence.
Another question I have is what do we do with the toothpaste in Object Lesson: Frames of War, or the bottles of Coca-Cola and shortcake in Object Lesson: Violence? Immediately I think back to Errol Morris' documentary on a Texas murder trial, The Thin Blue Line and the emphasis the film puts on the spilled contents of a police officer's malt milkshake as she stepped out of a police car to witness the murder of her partner. The presence of these kinds of objects encourages us to see that the unimaginable occurs in mundane and comfortable circumstances as well as in distant, dark ones. This makes violence seem more real, as if it could at any time penetrate into our day to day routines. In the Object Lesson photos, we are prompted to think of how violence sprouts from individuals who initiate daily practices on the micro level that very much resemble our own.
In the context of war, what is the meaning we apply to handcuffs, or handguns, or maps, or illicit photos, when they are linked like forensic evidence to the war setting? Do the objects come off as less harmful or more so? Moreover, questions arise such as if it is the gun, or the soldier's hand responsible for violence.
Another question I have is what do we do with the toothpaste in Object Lesson: Frames of War, or the bottles of Coca-Cola and shortcake in Object Lesson: Violence? Immediately I think back to Errol Morris' documentary on a Texas murder trial, The Thin Blue Line and the emphasis the film puts on the spilled contents of a police officer's malt milkshake as she stepped out of a police car to witness the murder of her partner. The presence of these kinds of objects encourages us to see that the unimaginable occurs in mundane and comfortable circumstances as well as in distant, dark ones. This makes violence seem more real, as if it could at any time penetrate into our day to day routines. In the Object Lesson photos, we are prompted to think of how violence sprouts from individuals who initiate daily practices on the micro level that very much resemble our own.
To be truthful, I find the imposition of an archival grouping of objects which were not truly found presumptuous, almost on the level of a prop artist assembling pieces for a show on a table. Nonetheless, Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen's work offers a unique experience which urges the examination of social myths surrounding objects and of the artifacts of violence and war.
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| Object Lesson: Violence |
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| Object Lesson: The Administration of Fear |
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