LIST Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA
On view through April 4, 2010
In Virtuoso Illusion: Cross-Dressing and the New Media Avant-Garde, the LIST Visual Arts Center proves once again to be one of the strongest art institutions on the East Coast, consistently programming superb exhibitions that prove to never be a letdown. Although one criterion, New Media, slightly overshadows another, Cross-Dressing, curator Michael Rush has brought together seventeen artists, ranging from Marcel Duchamp to Kalup Linzy, to produce a sensuously captivating exhibition. It’s no surprise that “New Media” dominates in theme, as Rush is the author of numerous, widely-read textbooks such as Video Art (2004, revised edition, 2007), New Media in Art (2004), and New Media in Late 20th-century Art (2001). Much like his books, Virtuoso Illusion is easy to navigate, yet packed with useful information. Due to the size of the List Center, the layout of the exhibition is borderline overwhelming. However, this overstimulation seems to fit hand in hand with New Media and its tendency to aggressively, and in some cases subtly, invade your senses.
Although the show includes photography, ranging from Pierre Molinier’s pre-Photoshop surrealist collages from the 1950s to Yasumasa Morimura’s stylized appropriation of Manet’s Olympia, it is the video installations that make the visit worth the trip. Not surprisingly, both Ryan Trecartin and Kalup Linzy are included – although not to any disappointment, as they are both prolific (and might I add known to be cross-dressing artists from time to time) artists who would leave a gaping hole in this exhibition were their videos absent.
While some videos are awkwardly cramped into cubicles on small television sets (like a looping reel of Charles Atlas’ work), Rush has allotted an enormous area in the back to Michelle Handelman’s four-screen projection, Dorian (2009). The only completely dark screening area in the galleries, the four large screens (roughly 10’ wide each) seem to float in space as the high-definition, well-produced video projections illuminate their surfaces. The credits on this piece are extensive, as dozens of artists and technicians were involved in the making of this film. Dorian is rich with color and character. The non-linear narrative introduces us to numerous personalities, all lusciously made-up, and as a result, overtly and quietly narcissistic (depending on the character). Here, celebrity is grotesque and the obscure still aren’t beautiful.
The final work in the exhibition is Katarzyna Kozyra’s Summertale (2008), a delightful short film about five dwarfs who provide an unusually inhospitable welcome to a couple of seriously misplaced visitors. The viewer is introduced to a lush, vivid garden paradise near a cozy cottage where numerous dwarf maids are going about their daily chores of watering the flourishing plants, picking apples and other fruits, and hanging fresh laundry in what appears to be the freshest breeze ever. Who knows how long these women have been tending to this house, why they are there, and if they have frequent guests. One day, a large Alice-In-Wonderland-like mushroom appears in a clearing. It towers above their heads and clouds their senses with stink. The ladies look upon it with confusion and amazement. They hesitantly approach the mushroom and start to poke it, acting similar to the apes when the mysterious, black monolith appears in Stanley Kubrick’s "2001: A Space Odyssey"(1968). The mushroom hisses and steams, burps loudly, and out crawls three unlikely characters: a stately gentleman (who we find later is an Opera singer with no sense of cleanliness), a prissy drag queen donning a skintight dress and a furry, rolling suitcase (who we find later is quite sloppy despite her efforts in appearance), and finally a silly, child-like woman dressed in all white (who is taken in by the dwarfs as a project in innocence). Summertale is ridiculously charming; it could be a set of a Disney movie, however with its sinister undertones, it could easily be a Lady Gaga video. This cautionary tale warns the viewer to always stay on one’s best behavior when visiting a far away land. Kozyra’s film is probably the least-likely to fit with Rush’s overall theme of the show, but it was definitely the most enjoyable video and a pleasant surprise ending to an overall satisfying show.
