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The people does not exist as a subject but as a mass of serious little stories…that, collected together, constitute big stories.
Jean- Francois Lyotard
My work for over twenty years has involved two primary issues: storytelling and trauma as a cultural phenomena. These subjects may seem to lie in direct opposition to each other as trauma is often indicated by what is left out in language and narrative, however, the moralizing conclusion of many tales has never been of interest to me. Rather the open ended, haunting quality of trickster tales, stories whose points of view are never fixed, are interesting and do relate to the hallucinating distortion of cause and memory present in dramatic response.
In my work as a visual artist I generally begin projects with a specific title. I then set about gathering images and popular culture material which ultimately, when organized into an installation, critiques the implied "agenda" of the title. By employing often goofy imagery with otherwise serious often deadpan text, I hope to develop work that communicates to viewers equally, the hopeless, ironic, sad, and sometimes curiously amusing experience we call American Life.
For this installation "Swing Me Over the Garden Wall", I began drawing political cartoons in the Bazooka style I have favored for several years; this particular series of comics were developed largely form AP news images. I then painted the cartoons in gouache, scanned them into the computer, and digitally wrapped them onto cyber built HumVees and tanks. The vehicles were then animated and finally layered into 8mm film footage and digital video. The final video is a tightly edited 30 minute piece where HumVee vehicles and tanks drift through New York and over the heads of porn stars, suburban parents, cows, cowboys, and polar bears.
Sound for the piece- a remix of pop music and excerpts of interviews: men reminiscing about their uniforms, a southern preacher, quotes from the writer Blancheot, and readings from military manuals- either further informs the images it parallels or redirects the visual.
The installation also includes a wall of five constructed sculptures on spinning display pedestals, posing as ironic trophies to invented heroes. These silver and gold metallic trophies work in counterpoint to the disjointed video sequence. In addition a complex of octagon images are drawn on two facing walls both for the opportunity to expand the depth of the gallery space and to indicate a tangled aspect of sacred architecture where an octagonal structure may indicate the 'eight winds' or eight doors giving passage from one state to another.
In the outside gallery are drawings, in gouache and graphite, developed from my original war cartoons. As the cartoons are difficult to read on twirling vehicle images in the video, these drawings serve to inform viewers of the primary intent of the installation- that contemporary war as an American phenomena is simultaneously deadly serious, easily co- opted by consumer culture, and a secretly delicious game filled with real and false heroes, desire, fear, and contradiction.
Artist contact: Robin Starbuck, 212.386.7934/ robinstarbuck@aol.com
For further information please contact Gallery Manager, Lucy Terzis, at soho20@earthlink.net or (212) 367-8994.
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