Kate Groobey: Pants Down
William Kentridge on his animation technique
Jackson Pollock was
called an Action Painter by Harold Rosenberg because according to Rosenberg the
canvas was "an arena in which to act". Hans Namuth's film of Pollock at work, cements in my mind the idea of the artist in action as
being what this type of work is all about. In particular as Namuth's film
develops we see Pollock through a glass sheet that he begins to paint upon. As
he applies the paint he is first of all seen as an integral part of the developing
image, but he is then gradually 'painted out' of the picture as the
skeins of dripped paint develop across the glass surface. In the early part of
the film there are some images of Pollock's shadow painting, partly reminiscent
of the shadow on the wall in the film 'Nosferatu' that I referred to in a recent post on the emotive use of tone. The artist in action and the marks made by the artist as a
consequence of these actions become entwined together, the film becoming the
vehicle that holds all the elements together. In many ways Namuth's film
supplants Pollock's paintings in the mind of audiences, the images of him at
work, now an integral part of the work's reception.
If we now
revisit Kate Groobey's practice, we can see a direct lineage between Namuth's
film and the films Groobey makes of herself embedded within her paintings. She
is making work far removed from the Abstract Expressionists' very macho
vibe, being able to use humour and a way of working that directly deflates the
sometimes overbearing pantheon of painting. Her feet sticking out from the bottom of the image below, tell us all we need to know about where she literally is in this work.
Kate Groobey
Caroline Denervaud's performative drawings, are much more formal in their construction. It is as if she allows her body to be controlled by the drawing. She holds poses that seem to echo the shapes and forms required by the emerging image, her body becoming an aesthetic fit, as she responds to the demands of the drawing.
Caroline Denervaud
In an earlier post I introduced the performative work of Joan Jonas and in her case she develops more of a narrative interest as she constructs her performances.
Joan Jonas
In all of these cases the artist and the materials used become entangled in a complex work that sees the boundaries between art object and artist dissolve.
I was recently at one of Greg Burgoyne's drawing performances. He tends to use the elements we might find in the studio or even the stationary cupboard as the things he works with. Often developing a relationship with the material that suggests that he finds it hard to be in control. This is for me the most interesting aspect of the performances I've seen of his. I can engage with his struggle to smooth out paper, or the impossibility of controlling sticky tape when sticking it to your shoes as you walk. The ripping sound as his feet pull the tape from the roll, making an ever anxious soundtrack to what seems like a pointless act, or the sound of paper being torn and crumpled as it is pushed against a wall. He develops a very emotional relationship with his materials, they appear to have as much agency as he does in a performance and this is an issue I think is going to become more and more important.
So many performances have historically been about control and we now live in a different world, one with more awareness of how badly we have treated both each other as human beings and the world itself.
If you go back to the 1960s and look at performances such as Bruce Nauman's 'Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square' you have the sense that the artist was fully in control.
Gilbert and George were probably the first English based artists that I was exposed to who had performance at the heart of their practice. I remember going to see their large scale drawings of themselves in a very English landscape in the early 70s, in if I remember correctly, the Hayward Gallery and the 23 charcoal-on-paper 'sculptures' that make up what they now call 'The General Jungle or Carrying on Sculpting', were back on display recently at the Lévy Gorvy gallery, a timely reminder of the first time for myself when drawing, sculpture and performance seemed to have no barriers between each other. In this particular case the drawings, (all made on lots of sheets of paper joined together), seemed to provide an arena within which G&G could act, their other work being seen on TV monitors within the same gallery spaces. Originally titled THE NATURE OF OUR LOOKING this was one of several pieces with a pastoral setting, their ideas at the time all being related to what it was to be English and in this case they were looking at an English love of idyllic rural imagery, ‘Here in the country’s heart where the grass is green’ words by the Victorian poet Norman Gale, are quoted within the sculpture/drawings. The fact that much of their work has been about the myths of Englishness, perhaps being because one of them is English and the other Italian.
I was recently at one of Greg Burgoyne's drawing performances. He tends to use the elements we might find in the studio or even the stationary cupboard as the things he works with. Often developing a relationship with the material that suggests that he finds it hard to be in control. This is for me the most interesting aspect of the performances I've seen of his. I can engage with his struggle to smooth out paper, or the impossibility of controlling sticky tape when sticking it to your shoes as you walk. The ripping sound as his feet pull the tape from the roll, making an ever anxious soundtrack to what seems like a pointless act, or the sound of paper being torn and crumpled as it is pushed against a wall. He develops a very emotional relationship with his materials, they appear to have as much agency as he does in a performance and this is an issue I think is going to become more and more important.
So many performances have historically been about control and we now live in a different world, one with more awareness of how badly we have treated both each other as human beings and the world itself.
If you go back to the 1960s and look at performances such as Bruce Nauman's 'Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square' you have the sense that the artist was fully in control.
Bruce Nauman's 'Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square'
Anastasia Faiella
If you look at an artist such as Anastasia Faiella, you feel she is demonstrating how much she is in control of her body. This might be very hard to do, like an Olympic athlete if you train hard you can master all the elements of your process. However when you get to my age you are more circumspect. I am very aware that my body doesn't do the things it used to do, that it is getting worn out, so I begin to be more sympathetic to the agency of other things in the world. I value good shoes that support my feet and ankles when I walk, I appreciate the role other things play in my life, regarding the things I now do as being more like a slow dance with constantly changing partners. 
Gilbert and George: 1970
Gordons makes us drunk
The video 'Gordons makes us drunk' being a classic performance piece from this time and one that opened doors to a very powerful way of developing metaphor. Gin being seen within the English imagination as on the one hand a Hogarthian evil, as in prints such as 'Gin Lane' and on the other hand as a symbol for colonialism, the image of the English having their G&T served by a native servant being central to a certain idea of a colonial past. Gilbert and George by getting drunk on Gin became a metaphor for a period that perhaps the nation at the time wanted to forget.
All art is in some sense a performance and what we often see exhibited in relation to past performances is rather like a preserved stage set rather then the full experience. The Joseph Beuys exhibition that is currently at the Leeds city art gallery being typical of this. The vitrines within which his work is placed, being rather like the relic cases we see in Catholic Churches or objects found in a museum.
The reality of a performance is often awkward and difficult. This is part of the importance of it, performance art is not like theatre, it is not about entertainment, it is about awareness raising. The drawing issue is here one of planning, developing a concept and then enacting it. This is drawing as 'disegno'.
All art is in some sense a performance and what we often see exhibited in relation to past performances is rather like a preserved stage set rather then the full experience. The Joseph Beuys exhibition that is currently at the Leeds city art gallery being typical of this. The vitrines within which his work is placed, being rather like the relic cases we see in Catholic Churches or objects found in a museum.
Joseph Beuys: Artist's rooms Leeds City Art Gallery
Beuys: Shaving performance
Marina Abramovic
The awkward feeling that the man must feel squeezing himself between two naked figures is exactly how good performance art should make you feel. The audience has to experience something memorable and life changing and in trying to achieve this, performance art perhaps holds on to its roots in shamanistic acts and our need for powerful rituals as life affirmative events.
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