"If you can say it... Why paint it?" A review of the key concepts of Contemporary Art: Artwork of the month - May 2008

Monday, May 5, 2008

Artwork of the month - May 2008 - 'Lock' by Renaud AUGUSTE-DORMEUIL

Posted by seiinod at 2:23 PM

My name is Conflict, won't you take me home? You've probably heard about me in the newspapers, on tube or in the cinema but there is a great chance that you've never seen me for real... Some of you believe that I am a necessary condition for their liberty... I won't blame them! It is just that they don't know me really... I am far more dirty and naughty that what they imagine. But you do not realise it anymore.

There are many reasons for this, but the one obvious to me is linked to your representational systems. You have been lucky enough, not to see the warfare on your doorstep and to see, feel what it is properly like. Therefore, your idea of a war is based on what is available to you, may it be fictional or read from a journalistic point of view.

Me, Conflict, would like to introduce you to an artwork I really dislike. Its called Lock and the artist is Renaud AUGUSTE-DORMEUIL:

Lock is a term borrowed from the snipers lexical field, which means that the target is ready to be killed. Helped with a laser pointer, Renaud AUGUSTE-DORMEUIL simulates a situation where civil targets caught in the line of fire of an undefined threat in Paris streets.

I'll ask again... Won't you take me home? Instead of this simulacra of modern urban unfair warfare? You all have in mind photos of Sarajevo, victims of Snipers. Let me refresh your memory. The media used to be flooded of such pictures at that time. But this was far away, so far that people could not even point at Sarajevo on a map. And the media did not help: Who really knows what happened there? But let's just come back to our artwork...

I was just saying: What I dislike about this artwork, me, Conflict, is that it helps people to think about what would happen if I had to come to your door... A simulation... As if people were attacked in your peaceful parks, streets and playgrounds. In 'lock', the threat is viewable, the tragedy is imminent; did not yet happen though, but is just about to happen. The potentiality of death is not only a newspaper thing anymore. And YOU now think about it, maybe as you could be the victim of this sniper that points his red eye on your shoulder or on your back.

Why is it different from what you see on your TV screen?

First it is fictional but wait... this one is quite subtle: No it is not real, I can assure you it's not and you probably know about it. It does not really look like a journalistic picture, does it? Usually CNN and friends show you what happens after the tragedy... and you might expect some standard gestures from the subjects or at least a diaporama before-while-after like, that shows the tragic events as in a movie. But here, nothing! You are not even sure that something will happen.

My second argument to highlight a difference between press picture archetypes and our artwork lies in the framing and compositional codes of the photos. Have now a close look on this picture below:

This is a terrific shot taken a few seconds after Benazir Bhutto assassination in Pakistan by John Moore. This picture is part of a series that won the first prize at the World Press Photography 2008. You can see it is real by the way the photo was taken... You expect such picture from a journalist, don't you? That is exactly the aesthetic that would boost the TIMES/Guardians sales, when framed on the front page. A guy praising at the sky in the middle of the carnage, smoke, calcined corpses and blood everywhere around... This Muslim really looks like Jesus Christ?! The perfect white European archetype of sacrifice and suffering... A model that applies everywhere?

From the exact same series, I find this one far more interesting... This is a bit more unexpected. It was taken while the bombs were exploding and it really gives a sense of immediacy. But that is a question of taste.Ok, one more time: My name is conflict, do you take me home? an idea of me? or am I just a far, remote, unrealistic fantasy that does not have much to do with proper truth and reality?