New Wilderness

Collin Johanson

Dual 1 presents two series of works each identified by their individual discipline, sculpture and drawing, a grouping which takes focus off formal comparisons and suggests theological consideration. In a grouping of pencil drawings on standard 8.5 × 11 paper entitled, Outbuildings and Livestock, James Whitman extradites many drawings from these minimal means which picture abstracted figures and landscapes within a variety of lines and shapes. Under the title of, Bewilderness, Robert Niven presents eight sculptures, which create new constellation from the banality of every day objects creating hybrid metamorphosis that embrace misrecognition. Both Niven and Whitman present imaginative works that present the familiar in new form, whether it is through the notion of landscape and the human body or domestic objects we use daily.

Niven’s sculptural work creates ambiguities and offers multiple readings while ranging formally from surreal assemblages highlighting structural associations, to transformations of one familiar form into that of another. The use of every day objects as sculptural material functions to different affects from work to work yet consistent is Niven’s observations of structural pattern. His use of the banal adds to the disjuncture we experience at the bewilderment of having our everyday familiarity disrupted. In Plaque a replica of a corn on the cob is disrupted by human teeth replacing the corn kennels, which are of approximately the same size and share structural consistencies with kernels. This surreal juxtaposition makes possible subjective interpretations of intent. The work advocates dream analyst involving the common occurrence of anxiety over losing teeth while also suggesting a pun at getting corn stuck in ones teeth and the physical act of biting into teeth. In Pepto Passion, a whirlpool of Pepto- Bismol contained within a glass cup sits modestly on a stool. The disjuncture of the magical whirlpool creates surprise and has cognitive associations to diarrhea and a turning stomach. This ambiguous sculpture has kinetic similarities to Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle wheel on a stool; as well it is possible to see physical comparisons between the human anus and the tight swirl in the middle of the pink whirlpool.

Whitman revels in abstract forms, subtly of line and tautologous exploration within the confines of his set perimeters. Ranging from detailed landscapes with extensive topographies of foliage, trees, ambiguous objects, structures and living creatures, to drawings that suggest pictorial depth and landscape through abbreviated marks. On the furthest end of the spectrum there are more minimal drawings that consist of only a few abstract lines. This range offers a view at the process and potential for Whitman’s project of de-territorializing the face and landscape from their formal concrete rules, creating new organisms and synthesis. The potential of drawing to express the imagination and the possibilities of abstract form are exploited in these works creating original forms and seductive texture. The de-territorializing of the human form creates a transcendence from our closed system of recognition and creates new possibilities, the most successful of which are more expressive than any caricature or portrait. When agitated lines and forms suggest a faciality yet have no mouth or nose, with only a few identifiable forms, they transcend our basic identification with facial expression and can create new hyper expressions as in the drawing, Spike Punks. The narrative elements in the works are ambiguous and while they do elicit emotive response, such as when we see a young feminine figure, frail and nude curled up alone on a hillside or as in other varied situations, it is never a closed reading with a conclusion.

Both the disorienting manipulation of familiar objects in Niven’s sculpture and the abstract figurative landscape drawings by Whitman create de-territorialization of the familiar and a synthesis of forms which lend themselves to mimesis. A strong example of this is in one of Niven’s sculptures, entitled, Socializing (Sucking and Blowing), where bright pink, manufactured straws are stuck in the combs of an exposed organic bee nest. The sculpture also appears to suggest this new cyborg organism is oozing black paint from the ends of the straws. The congruency of the straws to the combs, along with the ambiguous synthesis between the organic and manufactured, adds to the formal quality of this work. In Whitman’s wilderness, lines and shapes accommodate a synthesis between the elements incorporated into the composition. Plant and animal life as well as objects and buildings share formal characteristics and congruencies within an abstracted and expansive autonomous space.

Three days before the opening for Duel 1 (February, 7th 2006), an international team of scientists revealed their finding from a journey into in the secluded mountains of New Guinea, which detailed a pristine environment undisturbed by humans. Describing the land as a, “Garden of Eden”, the scientists found possibly hundreds of new species including unknown plants, birds, butterflies, frogs, tree kangaroos, spiky anteaters and other strange mammals, some unheard of, others long thought extinct. It is interesting to consider Niven’s sculptural work in consideration to this pristine landscape. For example consider three sculptures, entitled Stainless Living 1, Stainless Living 2 and a variation Sleepless Nights. Here stainless steal spoons are used to emulate the forms of a wasp’s nest, a pineapple and a grenade, which represent sanctuary, armory and hostility. In, Stainless Living 2, the bowels of numerous spoons are layered in a lattice structure to mimic the form of pineapple’s skin with the spoon handles forming the leaves. This armored pineapple, in relation to a naive landscape where humans are unknown, can be seen as an established survivor in the modern world using man made utensils as armor against the violence nature is subjected to.

The scientists reported that they knew this land had not been exposed to humans by the fact that the animals showed no fear or agitation towards their presence. The creatures in Whitman’s drawings like wise show no interest in the viewers’ presence, they are outsiders living in an isolated wilderness. The discoveries of new life forms, both in the drawings and in the mountains of New Guinea, offer new examples of diversity, making Whitman’s creatures all the more plausible and less alien. In further comparison, the scientists are finding what parts of the world looked like 50,000 years ago while Whitman presents a parallel world or possibly a futuristic one.

Duel one presents many possibilities for discussion that could go on at length, such as the relation between Niven’s bricolaged use of discarded materials in relation to similar forms of folk art, as seen in his use of spoons or lenses for eye glasses. These are materials which have been rendered surplus, an entopic paradox in the nature of consumption. Whitman also leaves room for discussion in the biographical relation between his upbringing in the isolated open spaces of the B.C. interior and his use of this Canadian landscape within his imaginative world, which resists reference to our current culture. We could also discuss these works and their place within contemporary drawing and material based sculpture, both within the local context and abroad. Without the closed confines of curatorial interpretation, Duel 1 has allowed for a open interpretation of these two disparate practices which once seen together display consistencies favorable to the understanding of both.