Art Fag City at The L Magazine: Brian Jungen

by Art Fag City on April 23, 2008 · 10 comments The L Magazine

jungen_jersey.jpg
Brian Jungen, Blanket no. 3, 2008, Image copyright Casey Kaplan

My latest review at the L Magazine is up. The teaser below.

Brian Jungen's 2006 exhibition at Casey Kaplan wasn't much to talk about. I've never cared for skull art — I can't keep myself from thinking about pirates and acid trips, no matter the intended metaphor. In that show, presumably, the skull iconography referenced the Wild West, as the entrance featured a number of rear-view mirrors with hanging feathered ornaments, and in the main gallery and back room, respectively, multiple baseball skins were molded into human skulls that lay in a flatfooted arrangement on the floor, and sofa chairs were turned into saddles and mounted on stools. The work in the exhibition was laid too low to the ground and failed to fill out the space enough, making it difficult for most viewers to even catch the theme of the show.

Two years later, the sculptures have gone from bad to worse. Jungen's current exhibition at Casey Kaplan suffers from both conceptual and aesthetic flaws, though it basically follows along themes he's been exploring for the last eight years. Jungen, a Dunne-za, First Nations Indian, creates sculptures that reference his heritage, transforming various mass-produced objects into art: this exhibition opens with a plastic gasoline can perforated with small holes forming the shapes of dragonflies. It's unclear what significance the viewer should glean from the use of a motif popular among college freshmen, though one might infer that the can likely points to gas-huffing, a problem on First Nation reserves in Canada. It may be that the imprinted design is simply meant to create a female counterpart to the other pieces in the show, though such gender oppositions don't add anything to the interpretation of the work.

The rest of the gallery is filled with woven ceremonial robes made from sports jerseys. Hanging flatly on the wall, and neutered of any meaning past the dull objects they were and have become, the work is surely a low point relative to Jungen's past successes. Just last year, the artist created a series of impressive totem poles constructed from hiking backpacks golf bags for a show at Catriona Jeffries gallery in Vancouver. In that work, both the materials and the object they represent are as successful in their craft, as they are in concept, each privileging social status, referencing a type of vacation that typically involves a fair bit of work. Admittedly, the artist brings some virtuosity to the actual textile weaving of his newest work — some of the patterns verging on beautiful — but the shirt still looks like a shirt, and a boring one at that.

To read the full review click here.

{ 10 comments }

Kirsten April 23, 2008 at 11:14 pm

I can’t comment on this body of work because I haven’t seen it, but I think that Brian Jungen is one of the most innovative and exciting Canadian artists today. His retrospective show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal in 2006 was one of the best shows I’ve seen at that gallery.

Kirsten April 23, 2008 at 6:14 pm

I can’t comment on this body of work because I haven’t seen it, but I think that Brian Jungen is one of the most innovative and exciting Canadian artists today. His retrospective show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal in 2006 was one of the best shows I’ve seen at that gallery.

Art Fag City April 23, 2008 at 11:21 pm

I tend to agree – for some reason though, all (two) of his shows at Casey Kaplan have been bad.

Art Fag City April 23, 2008 at 6:21 pm

I tend to agree – for some reason though, all (two) of his shows at Casey Kaplan have been bad.

Golara Hamzeh May 14, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Unlike most native Canadians, white Canadians LOVE Brian Jungen for reasons other than art. In Canada, Jungen’s success symbolizes the long awaited compensation for the genocide of Natives. His career is a feel good story for a racist society that until two decades ago was trying so hard to erase the native culture from the face of the country. He also represent the “white-deal” (white ideal) new emerging identity model for natives in Canada: half European and half native, engaged more in modernity that native traditions and culture. Jungen’s work at best romanticizes the defeat of the old native civilizations and their eventual takeover by global capitalism, If Natives were still fighting their insurgency war in the streets of North America, Brian’s mask would not be made of Nike shoes and his ceremonial garment made out of sport jerseys, they would be made like they “should” have been made; with only the native tradition in mind. In this case he would be ignored by the art world but taken care of by the homeland security department. and instead of his work being institutionalized in museums, he would be institutionalized in mental asylum or Guantanamo Bay. Dancing to the tunes of global accumulation of capital in post modern sport Jersys on top of the grave of your ancestors can make you lots of money.

Golara Hamzeh May 14, 2008 at 12:00 pm

Unlike most native Canadians, white Canadians LOVE Brian Jungen for reasons other than art. In Canada, Jungen’s success symbolizes the long awaited compensation for the genocide of Natives. His career is a feel good story for a racist society that until two decades ago was trying so hard to erase the native culture from the face of the country. He also represent the “white-deal” (white ideal) new emerging identity model for natives in Canada: half European and half native, engaged more in modernity that native traditions and culture. Jungen’s work at best romanticizes the defeat of the old native civilizations and their eventual takeover by global capitalism, If Natives were still fighting their insurgency war in the streets of North America, Brian’s mask would not be made of Nike shoes and his ceremonial garment made out of sport jerseys, they would be made like they “should” have been made; with only the native tradition in mind. In this case he would be ignored by the art world but taken care of by the homeland security department. and instead of his work being institutionalized in museums, he would be institutionalized in mental asylum or Guantanamo Bay. Dancing to the tunes of global accumulation of capital in post modern sport Jersys on top of the grave of your ancestors can make you lots of money.

Brian May 18, 2008 at 7:05 pm

Regarding the show at Catriona Jeffries Gallery in Vancouver. The Totem sculptures were not made from hiking back packs they were made from golf bags.
This suggestion here that Brian Jungen has to better himself with every new concept he comes up with is absurd. In ten years he has presented work with a similar theme. This does not mean he is a one trick pony, ten years is a short amount of time, this ten or so years of work, in the future, will probably be viewed as a whole.
Brian Jungen has produced works that are not related to his native culture at all, proving he does not rely on native themes all the time. It is just easier for us to see him in this light and brush aside the other works. His work transcends just being stuck with traditional ideas presented with consumer materials. His untitled palettes, 10 stacked palettes produced for their esthetics rather than function value have no native connection at all unless you suggest the cedar they are made from is the connection but that is a stretch. It feels better for most to see him that way I guess but I see someone that produces very simple ideas presented in a minimal way. Being seen as native is not important to think about all the time when viewing his work. That is just a way of making ourselves feel safe with his culture. His roots are in northern British Columbia. Far from the ocean where totems, whales and Haida Gwaii blankets exist. He combines native culture in a general way bringing tipi and totems together to make his statements regarding endogenous peoples in Canada. He produces exogenous pieces but as I mentioned is capable of moving away from this theme.
So it seems unless his work is what we want him to produce then we are disappointed. He is not catering to your tastes he is just playing out this excellent body of work which will be viewed together someday long after Brian has moved on with work that probably will settle into more supple themes. We just have to get used to that from artists. Demanding they outdo themselves over and over means we want them to give us our fix. The half native artist Bill Reid produced work propelling native art along making it popular and beautiful. But it is also how we like are native artist to be viewed. With Brian his work is clever and we demand that from him and are disappointed if it does not give us the rush we have had viewing his work in the past, something we should not be doing. He is a native artist and more we just have to look at the bigger picture.
I for one like this body of work for what it is and I am looking forward to seeing where Brian goes. Maybe he will just walk away.

Brian May 18, 2008 at 2:05 pm

Regarding the show at Catriona Jeffries Gallery in Vancouver. The Totem sculptures were not made from hiking back packs they were made from golf bags.
This suggestion here that Brian Jungen has to better himself with every new concept he comes up with is absurd. In ten years he has presented work with a similar theme. This does not mean he is a one trick pony, ten years is a short amount of time, this ten or so years of work, in the future, will probably be viewed as a whole.
Brian Jungen has produced works that are not related to his native culture at all, proving he does not rely on native themes all the time. It is just easier for us to see him in this light and brush aside the other works. His work transcends just being stuck with traditional ideas presented with consumer materials. His untitled palettes, 10 stacked palettes produced for their esthetics rather than function value have no native connection at all unless you suggest the cedar they are made from is the connection but that is a stretch. It feels better for most to see him that way I guess but I see someone that produces very simple ideas presented in a minimal way. Being seen as native is not important to think about all the time when viewing his work. That is just a way of making ourselves feel safe with his culture. His roots are in northern British Columbia. Far from the ocean where totems, whales and Haida Gwaii blankets exist. He combines native culture in a general way bringing tipi and totems together to make his statements regarding endogenous peoples in Canada. He produces exogenous pieces but as I mentioned is capable of moving away from this theme.
So it seems unless his work is what we want him to produce then we are disappointed. He is not catering to your tastes he is just playing out this excellent body of work which will be viewed together someday long after Brian has moved on with work that probably will settle into more supple themes. We just have to get used to that from artists. Demanding they outdo themselves over and over means we want them to give us our fix. The half native artist Bill Reid produced work propelling native art along making it popular and beautiful. But it is also how we like are native artist to be viewed. With Brian his work is clever and we demand that from him and are disappointed if it does not give us the rush we have had viewing his work in the past, something we should not be doing. He is a native artist and more we just have to look at the bigger picture.
I for one like this body of work for what it is and I am looking forward to seeing where Brian goes. Maybe he will just walk away.

Art Fag City May 18, 2008 at 7:18 pm

The suggestion is not that Jungen has to out do himself with every new body of work – there’s merely the observation that neither of his exhibitions at Casey Kaplan have been good. If you can produce a compelling argument for why you enjoyed this work I’m all ears, but as far as a transformation of materials goes, he’s done far better.

Art Fag City May 18, 2008 at 2:18 pm

The suggestion is not that Jungen has to out do himself with every new body of work – there’s merely the observation that neither of his exhibitions at Casey Kaplan have been good. If you can produce a compelling argument for why you enjoyed this work I’m all ears, but as far as a transformation of materials goes, he’s done far better.

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