- Venue
- George Polke
- Location
- London
Nietzsche successfully abolished the notion of one, absolute truth. We can only ever navigate around Reality – from lie to fantasy to metaphor. The biased moments in a documentary hold more veracity than implied realism. And reading fiction grounds us in real-life steadier than any newspaper. Our vision of self is equally skewed, and were we exposed to the truth we'd hardly recognise it.
These complexities of self-reflection and truth are tackled in the final instalment of George Polke's Two. Each fortnight the gallery has hosted a show consisting of two works by two artists that aggravate or resonate with each other. The two works currently exhibited do both, provoking the equally troubling imposition of inner and outer questioning. Joaquín del Pasos's documentary-esque video causes instant reflection on personal moral integrity. While Sibyl Montague's projected drawings grants us the (perhaps over) privileged position of humanity's critic.
Montague's ‘animation' (any label – video, moving image – is somewhat problematic) is made of an extensive series of drawings, where economic strokes of ink sketch out human figures in various sites and situations. The swift transition between each drawing describes the fleeting life of each human, if not the brief existence of human beings. While the depicted scenarios are often debauched – sex acts, rave parties etc – the monotone simplicity of the images renders them anonymous, with only a vague link to a contemporary context. These image-archetypes therefore insist on a universal reading, and leave the faint thread of narrative to be interpreted as mankind's journey. The humanoid shape that slowly awakens in the first few stills gradually increases in Dionysian behaviour, as does the animation's speed, until a shocking orange sun envelops the projection at its peak.
The artist copied the drawings from selected videos on Youtube; that zeitgeist-archive of human misbehaviour. Knowledge of this further underlines Montague's process of extracting the archetypical essence of people as a common concept, and distilling it into mere gesture. It's as if the narcissistic act of uploading yourself online is reflected back at you. The few marks in each frame manage to signify primordial existence while at the same time holding a mirror to modern life.
Del Paso's video is the micro antagonist to Montague's macro commentator. The monitor shows an elderly woman standing, seemingly purposeless, in the street of any-old-city. Guided by her appearance the imposed presumption is that she is insane. She undoubtedly is, but our readiness to jump to this conclusion is also on trial. The video includes the dialogue of del Paso and his companion as they discover what they're filming. Their voices play out our internal dialogue about the ethical questionability of the piece. The conclusion being that any nervous, indignant, or complacent response exposes our perception of people living on the boarder of society. The work's inherent cruelty is tricky to locate. Is it the intrusive nature of filming an unaware, non-consenting person? Or that, given her social status, her participation is arbitrary? Her red jumper in the concrete and pictorial framing of the shot, gives the image a cinematic quality that not only influences but engineers our response. Instantly we know this is a ‘crazy old lady', whose marginalised existence is both ours to ignore on a daily basis, and objectify in art works. The piece is mindful of freak-show documentaries that are now the staple of television broadcasting, pandering to our unrelenting willingness to look and pass judgement. We see the artist pointing a camera and condemn him for it. We see ‘we' watching the screen, and condemn ourselves for it, not daring to accept it as our potential future. The artist's get-out-clause for his actions is that he filmed the woman accidentally. It's up to the individual to decide whether this forgives the act.
Significantly the film is played on a small, discrete monitor, while, in some genre reversal, Montague's drawings occupy a large, projected space, confirming it's overarching meaning. Many questions are raised during the viewing, one that prevails is on the integrity of images. Is representation most accurate in handcrafted or captured pictures? Which better outlines personal and social morality? Both works make a claim for a truth, whether through documentary strategies or the indexical mark of the knowing artist. Together they create an affecting and lasting dissonance. The conflict played through is the unnerving presence of the Other, and the more worrying proximity of ourselves.
This was the final instalment of George Pole Two. Information about past Two shows and future events can be found at [email protected].
SIBYL MONTAGUE graduated from the Limerick school of Art in 2003. Since then she has exhibited widely both in Ireland and abroad, at Eigse Carlow curated by Patrick T. Murphy (2008) and Fenton Gallery (2007). She was awarded the emerging artist prize at the Claremorris Open 2007 (selected by Ingrid Swenson) and is a member of artists group Villa K involved in projects with Cork Caucus, for the Capital of Culture 2005.
