MILLIONS OF COLORS.Las Twines by Pepon Osorio Ronald Feldman Fine Arts New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , New York Almost a year after its initial exposure in a storefront in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, 1999 MacArthur Fellow Pepon Osorio's installation "Las Twines" (1998) (Spanglish for "twin girls") arrived in Manhattan at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Gallery. A theatrical, peculiar and powerful piece, it comments on the blending of races in the Latino community and broaches the subject of racism. September 14-October 9, 1999 Osorio's layered and personal art reflects a multifaceted mul·ti·fac·et·ed adj. Having many facets or aspects. See Synonyms at versatile. Adj. 1. multifaceted - having many aspects; "a many-sided subject"; "a multifaceted undertaking"; "multifarious interests"; "the multifarious identity derived from Latin America's hybrid history and culture and Puerto Rico's popular taste. Osorio insists that he does not create art to disrupt traditional aesthetic notions or use electronic media as an aesthetic end in itself, but incorporates cultural icons A cultural icon is an object or person which is distinctive to, or particularly representative of, a specific culture. An example is the bowler hat which could be considered an English cultural icon. Others include tea, The Beatles and association football. with electronic media to communicate a social message. These inclusions are charged with purpose and innovation despite the disturbing effect this excess might have on a more traditional gaze. Darker, more somber and even more aescetic than some of Osorio's exuberantly decorated works such as "Badge of Honor" (1995) or "La Barberia," (1994) "Las Twines" has its own subtle brilliance. The piece centers on two sculpted sculpt v. sculpt·ed, sculpt·ing, sculpts v.tr. 1. To sculpture (an object). 2. To shape, mold, or fashion especially with artistry or precision: figures of girls with identical features but different skin colors and hair textures: one is white and the other is black--not an atypical situation for sisters in countries where races have been mixing for generations. Dressed in white Sunday dresses and sitting on an iron bar suspended in the air, the twin dolls have a somewhat ghostly look. The installation includes an ornamented toy car traveling recklessly through the space on a rasied track and tells of the sisters' desire to find their father and their identity. To convey this further, the voices of the girls are heard every few minutes repeating, "Papa, Papa." Laterally across the gallery's mirrored walls, three video projections show images of three teenage boys who live in Hunts Point and worked with Osorio on the original installation. Placed close to the ceiling on different walls, three flat video monitors exhibit close-ups of a white teenager's face covered with thick black make-up and two black teenagers' faces covered with white make-up. In slow motion, the teenagers wash their faces, allowing their real skin color to appear. There are no cuts, no special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. , only these straightforward, almost documentary images that bring a sense of reality to Osorio's metaphorical story. The placement of the video monitors force the viewer's eyes to move through the space in order to capture different racial accounts of the same story. In addition to the monitors inside the gallery, another was placed in a darkened dark·en v. dark·ened, dark·en·ing, dark·ens v.tr. 1. a. To make dark or darker. b. To give a darker hue to. 2. To fill with sadness; make gloomy. 3. front window. Facing the street and supported by a golden frame, the monitor displayed the image of a black teenager. This moving portrait attracted the attention of people passing by and local residents filled the guest book Osorio placed in the gallery with personal stories regarding racial issues. The objects used in the installation make specific cultural references. Filling the rest of the space, arrangements resembling gift baskets A gift basket, or fruit basket is typically a gift that is delivered to the recipient at their home or workplace. There are different varieties of gift baskets, some which have fruit only, some with dry/canned goods only (such as tea, crackers and jam) although the standard were filled with various objects charged with meaning from boxes of hair relaxer re·lax·er n. One that relaxes, as a chemical solution used on tightly curled hair to soften or loosen the curls. Noun 1. relaxer - any agent that produces relaxation; "music is a good relaxer" cream to colorful plastic balloons printed with popular Puerto Rican Puer·to Ri·co Abbr. PR or P.R. A self-governing island commonwealth of the United States in the Caribbean Sea east of Hispaniola. sayings about race. Osorio endows this installation with a multiplicity of points of vision, opulence and ornamentation ornamentation In music, the addition of notes for expressive and aesthetic purposes. For example, a long note may be ornamented by repetition or by alternation with a neighboring note (“trill”); a skip to a nonadjacent note can be filled in with the intervening , and infuses static images with implied motion. BERTA M. SICHEL is an art writer and media curator living in New York. |
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