6. Scientific Landscape
10.2 Realised Landscape 196
10.2 Realised Landscape!
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Figure 33: Mason, The Deepest Darkness (2013)!!
The juxtaposition of the magical electronic dimension autobiographical seaside culture with images of trees, could be described as a comment on the
Press Release of the exhibition , The Deepest Darkness (2013) as produced by
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Block 336.
naturalization of technology249, serving to comment on the blurring of distinctions between creativity and computing which disconnects people from the natural world. The installation entitled The Deepest Darkness, is shown in figure 33 and consists of a projection of images of Nature under duress, lasting 9 minutes and 38 seconds in duration. Stills of dismembered trees and truncated branches are accompanied by the occasional sound of a bell tolling. It references the deeper conceptual meaning of this exhibition; the artists obsession with Grunewald´s Isenheim Alterpiece.!
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Mason describes how:
´In Colmar. The Isenheim Altarpiece Speaks, Screams, Whispers, Yells, Rings, Shouts, Squeals. It tells the truth. And it lies. It shows the red. And the fantastic. It is poetic. And operatic. It meanders like a small stream.
Then rushes like a torrent, it asks no questions. And asks all questions. It is full of light. It is full of dark. It stands proud. It lies calmly. It denies. it has the pain of the world. It has the pleasures of the world. It is life. It is death.
It is evil. It is heavenly. It is faithless. It is faithful. It is me. It is you. It is us.
It is them. It is then. It is now. It was, Is, Can, Can´t, Should, Shouldn´t, Will, Won´t, Has, Hasn´t, Did, Didn´t. As the river meanders in the distant landscape, a death assured. As is ours. Its life, as leaves in a book, entangled in us, in Colmar.´ 250
The Isenheim Alterpiece was commissioned for a hospital dedicated to treatment of extreme suffering resulting from a disease that was ascribed to a Claviceps purpurea fungus, which infected Rye, poisoned its victims and
Crowther, P. & Wunsche, I. Eds. (2012), p222.
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Mason, R. (2013), p54-55.
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developed into convulsions, skin eruptions and ultimately death. This ultimate 251 expression of suffering has been an enduring inspiration to many, and Walter Benjamin had a picture of the Isenheim Alterpiece on the wall of his study for many years and in 1913 made a special visit to Colmar to see the original paintings that led to the creation of his notion of the expressionless, those at the extreme end of suffering for whom violence has stolen expression, reducing them to silence. 252
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It has inspired pivotal and important paintings by artists such as Pablo Picasso (which is said to have culminated in Guernica ), 253 254 and Francis Bacon, for which the Crucifixion was not referenced as an actual event but as an environment of suffering. The structure of the altarpiece can be seen in 255 some of the paintings such as ´Between Here and There´ in figure 34. The connection between all of these responses to the panels is that they are ´less about crucifixions as such but rather about figurations of suffering, about
´imaging´ suffering. The central claims should hold true regardless of whether we are talking about medieval altarpieces or contemporary news photos of the abused inmates of Abu Ghraib . 256
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Picasso, P. Crucifixion (1930), Oil on Wood, 52 x 66cm, Musée National Picasso,
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Paris., Picasso, P. Crucifixion after Grunewald (1932), Eight inkwashes and ink drawings, 34 x 51cm, Musée National Picasso.
Serraller, F. C. & Giménez, C. Eds.(2006), p75.
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Minkkinen, P. (2008), p76.
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Ibid, p70.
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Figure 34: Mason, Between Here and There (2013)
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Therefore, the deconstruction of the crucifixion motif from its narrative framework could be said to focus on ´the very nature of tragedy´ itself. By 257 transcending religion but focusing on the nature of tragedy I am drawn to the use of trees within the artworks and created as sculptures by the artist, to specifically enhance the exhibition space. Jackson Pollock is described as rejecting art as representation through expressing himself as nature, By:
´using the metaphor of a tree Paul Klee likened the artist to a tree that absorbs energy from nature through ´the roots´, transmits rising sap through ´the trunk´ to form the branching ´crown´, an abstract art....the abstract expression of inner natural forces informed by a larger awareness of nature and its rhythms.´ 258
Minkkinen, P. (2008), p80.
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Crowther, P. & Wunsche, I. Eds. (2012), p119.
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Therefore, through the creative act bringing the inner dimensions of nature (as autobiographical and human experience) together with the outer reality of nature, the artist aspires to a oneness between man and nature. The harmony between inner and outer Landscapes, is the perfect antidote to a world saturated with images, this is a tale told with the intent to bring us back to our senses. The English expression to bring back to our senses refers to a wake up call, that returns us physically and emotionally back to what really matters in life and in the world. Questions of who we should be as individuals in the wider context of the bigger collective of the human race. In a world saturated with images, it attempts to return us to our destiny. It can refer to an individual, of to the collective, but in this quote I think its referring to activating an inner individual perception in order to harmonise with the outer, collective Landscape.
To reconnect the multiple examples of senses of perception present within the exhibition as eyes on stalks and lips on branches can be seen as a metaphor for an awakening of the viewer to a deeper meaning within the works.
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The artist describes an experience of the trace memory of artwork:
´it was a slow release thing, as if the image of the Island of the Dead had been burnt or branded into my retina...yes...like the afterimage of a light bulb, refusing to fade away´. As the afterimage of a lightbulb is a black spot of temporary blindness, an exhibition who is inherently dark, would in theory have the subtle aftereffect of brightness. As a continuation of this theory, the title of the exhibition could be transformed into an ´the brightest heights´ as an after-image of the exhibition. The process has been described as ´healing in transcription, and although the Altarpiece comes forth from death, in
its transcribed form, it is ´not a death´, but rather ´a birth, a new beginning´...a bold celebration of the possibility of this beginning, bravely reminding us that despite the anguish of our inevitable losses, life´s many pleasures can become entirely possible again.´259 The contemplation of the darkness results in the viewer receiving an antidote to the potential darkness of the human condition.
Contemplation of the darkness of the human condition is positively encouraged by the artist. He describes how ´to speak of the darkness is to speak of a lack of existence. Whilst to look into the darkness is to extract something of the life drive, embedded in the creative drive of the artist. I become involved in an entanglement with the past in the becoming of the present´. 260
However, the colourful interconnections within the works contrast markedly with the inherent conceptual profundity of the works and contribute to a sense of peace and contemplation, in the potentially claustrophobic underground space devoid of natural light and reminiscent of a bunker. It is as if by facing the darkness, one has a trace memory and an after-image of the positive, the bright light of life. The viewer is virtually transported from an industrial space into a parallel imaginary landscape through the artworks weaving the viewers vision between the sculptures, incorporating the unusual and existing features in the exhibition space.
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Groves, T. (2013), p8
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Mason, R. (2013), p70.
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