Old Vessels, Robust New Wine
By Tom Wachunas
“The aesthetic rationale for using appropriation, as distinct from a
political one (though it may come to the same thing), is to insert a tiny wedge
between the name and the named, to search out a crack in the wall built of
habit and certainty, and work into that small fissure a measure of existential
rebellion…Change the context, and meaning is made anew.” – David Salle,
from his book, “How To See”
“For many, even those who have
not read the Odyssey, Odysseus’ adventures are part of our cultural knowledge.
Given this familiarity, I have chosen to depict his journey within the
mythological time period. In contrast, I have chosen to align Penelope’s heroic
journey within the present context of female struggle and empowerment.”
- Kari Halker-Saathoff
EXHIBIT: Odysseus and Penelope –
The Long Journey, by Kari Halker-Saathoff / at the Canton Museum of Art
THROUGH JULY 22, 2018
1001 Market Ave. N,
Canton, Ohio / Information: 330-453-7666,
As physical
entities in time and space, we are all vessels. Containers and transporters of
our stories. Likewise, our art.
One way to think of
art – whether spoken or sung, played or performed, drawn, painted, printed or sculpted – is as a
societal self-portrait; a tangible, formalized declaration and sharing of our
collective soul. Our art can let us see who we were once, are now, and could
yet become.
With this exhibit, Kari Halker-Saathoff has
employed the historically potent art practice of bringing attention to a now by re-presenting a then. Parallel messages separated by
centuries if not millennia.
There are many significant
precedents, among them the Neoclassical oil masterpiece by French painter
Jacques- Louis David, Oath of the Horatii.
The painting was inspired by an ancient story of early Roman soldiers
pledging their lives to a cause before going to war, and here was intended to
inspire French citizenry in 1784 to embrace the classical values of civic duty
and sacrifice amidst the fervor of the impending French Revolution. Another
compelling example is a series of magnificent oil paintings by Italian
Baroque-era painter Artemesia Gentileschi, a brilliant advancer of Caravaggio’s
tenebrism. The series began in about 1620 with Judith Beheading Holofernes. All the ensuing paintings in the
series were variations on a story from the Biblical book of Judith, preserved
in the Catholic Old Testament, but designated in the Protestant canon as
apocryphal. In any case, Judith was a
Hebrew widow who saved her city from destruction by killing the enemy Assyrian
General Holofernes. Judith’s actions in such an adversarial context resonated
with Gentileschi as a symbol of her own struggle to be acknowledged not just as
an accomplished painter in a male-dominated art world, but also respected as a
strong, relevant woman in an oppressively patriarchal society.
And so it is that
in this remarkable body of work - a combination of 12 graphite drawings on
paper and 12 ceramic vessels - Kari Halker-Saathoff has appropriated Homer’s
epic poem, The Odyssey, composed near
the end of the 8th century BCE. In text placards that accompany the
artworks, the artist gives us an episodic synopsis of this iconic narrative, wherein
we learn of Odysseus’ arduous 10-year journey to return to his homeland after
the Trojan War. He battles mythical beasts and wrathful deities. Meanwhile, his
wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, bravely resist cruel and conniving suitors
who compete to marry Penelope in a doomed attempt to claim the kingdom of
Ithaca.
The intricately
composed graphite drawings exude a graceful theatricality, as if constructed by
a scenic designer for a stage play. All those beautifully blended grey tones
and ornate linear details against white grounds are actually cut-outs in part,
placed in turn against solid black backdrops. It’s an arresting effect, lending
a sculpted, bas-relief air to the compositions. Additionally, there are ovoid
portraits floating in the corners of each drawing, looking like jeweled
pendants or medallions. For the most part, these visages seem to be too…today to be characters from an ancient
epic. Perhaps they’re important contemporaries, personal to the artist’s own
journey.
And therein lies a
fascinating turn of perspective, most apparent in Kari’s 12 ceramic vessels.
The clay was formed by potter Joshua Ausman according to her specifications,
and the shapes of the pots are reminiscent of classical Greek amphoras. Each is
trimmed with low fire red accents and adorned with bold, illustrative images in
black.
You could call these
images dramas-in-the-round. They require you to circle them on your own journey
to take in all their visual and thematic content, which was inspired by the Women’s
March of 2017, and the concomitant concerns of the #MeToo movement. In
recognizing the elements of dignity and valor and bravery and heroism threaded
through The Odyssey, Kari identifies
most deeply with Penelope - not only her anxieties and sufferings, but her
fortitude, faithfulness, ingenuity and intelligence as well. Notice how the
story progresses from one vessel to the next. The years march on as Penelope
waits. Accordingly, the vessels’ necks, ringed with red lines (somewhat
suggestive of tree rings), grow progressively taller. Vessels holding more and
more…hope?
A rising up. Slowly
but surely, these engaging artworks transcend their rootedness in dusty old
myth to become a tangible connection to our
present. As such, they’re immediately, indeed urgently relevant to our
current milieu of volatile social confrontation and ideological reckoning. “Change the context, and meaning is made
anew.”
PHOTOS, from top: 1. Clay
vessels by Kari Halker-Saathoff (with Joshua Ausman) - image courtesy of the artist) / 2. She
Resisted / 3. She Was Warned / 4. Suitors
Sued For Harrasment / 5. Breathless Dead / 6. Who Receives Him Kindly / 7. Heartsick
On The Open Sea – He Made His Name By Sailing There
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