Curated by Sara Alonge
Interactions between groups with different cultural beliefs and backgrounds have often been wrought with tension and violence. Groups united by politics, economic standing, race, cultures, different schools of thought, etc. have given many a feeling of belongingness and camaraderie. However, this same sense of belonging can validate a bitterness towards those who do not share your view and may make said subgroups, in turn, feel as the “other”. DISCONNECT focuses on the feeling of loneliness and frustration at the hands of a society unwilling to understand each other.
Dana Schutz’s Open Casket displays an image that was, and still is, quite controversial. A white woman painting an image that in the words of the Whitney Biennial curators, “is an unsettling image that speaks to the long-standing violence that has been inflicted upon African Americans”, has been shrouded with the topic of cultural appropriation. Juxtaposed next to Kara Walker’s cut paper silhouettes that tell a brutal history of race relations through often violent scenes, this similar view can be seen quite differently. Michael Horse’s ledger paintings are a nod to classic Native American paintings on ledger books (government documents) that Native artists adorned with battle scenes between the US military and Native American tribes, which clearly displays a tumultuous history. Kiki Smith’s witches bring up the topic of another vastly misunderstood subculture centuries ago, with the cast bronze figures arms stretched out as if to say, “why have you forsaken me”. In some instances, regardless of cultures or schools of thought that one might belong to, one just might simply not build a connection to the world around them which would allude to an existential opposition to society, such as with Kiefer and Gormley’s pieces.
Antony Gormley, , 2001 Mild steel tubes: 12 mm (o/d), 5.5 mm (i/d). Mild steel rod: 5 mm x various lengths, Body-form: 190 x 48 x 35 cm. Fully extended work: 271 x 242 x 229 cm
Anselm Kiefer, Lilith, 1987-1990, Oil, emulsion, shellac, charcoal, ash, clay, hair, lead, poppy on canvas, 149 3/5 × 220 1/2 in, 380 × 560 cm
Dana Shutz, Open Casket, oil on canvas, 2016
Kiki Smith; Pyre Woman Kneeling, Pyre Woman on Haunches, Pyre Woman with Knees Extended; 2002; Bronze and wood; left to right: 37” x 61”, figure 91” x 124” diameter with base dimensions variable; 37” x 62 1⁄2” x 28”, 100” x 124” diameter with base dimensions variable; 2” x 39” x 35”, 119” x 124” diameter with base dimensions variable
Kara Walker, Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On), cut paper silhouettes and light projections, dimensions variable, 2000 (both images are the same work).
Michael Horse, Counting Coup, watercolor on ledger paper, 2010.
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