Danger Artist At Work
Thursday, June 24th, 2010Art critic Thanom Chapakdee discusses cultural paradoxes, conflict and the art of “seeing” as he weaves his way through the comedic decay in Bob Garlick’s latest exhibition, ‘Rust’.
“The piece that most clearly demonstrates this is ‘The Decline of Lust’. Dried hanging roses confined in modern acrylic tubes on a background of rust represents a society blinded by its commercial cravings.”
We are always searching for ourselves so that we feel settled and secure in our environment. In many ways we are like refugees crossing landscapes in our minds trying to install ourselves in a stable land.
After we have been able to stablise ourselves, we search for our identity through media – we look for interpretation. But once we have found a level of understanding about who we are, many of us simply slip into a routine existence, comfortable in our enclosure.
We always secretly dream of a beautiful land – about what is on the other side of the mountain. But in reality it is no different from what we experience now, as our environment cannot change who we are. What we need to do is create our own identity and consume ourselves.
Meet Bob, The Politically Motivated Artist
Bob has rejected routine and comfort,
constantly searching for more meaning and context for his life.
But he always stays outside.
He is “seeing”.
The ‘Rust’ exhibition is an extension of his visualisation of Thai society. His work does not necessarily demonstrate what he believes in, but what he observes. He is standing outside – looking in.
In this way, he is protected from Thai society. And this is to his advantage as if he was inside it he would be blinded and consumed by the paradoxes and chaos. He sees the form.
I don’t even think he is interested in the root – like the root of Buddhism, as he is happier standing in front of it all, watching a crazy society unfold. He is like a lot of other people in one way. He does not know when he is Bob or when he is not – but it is only when he works that he can visualise what he sees.
Telephone Buddha is made from: Rusted Metal, Wood, Copper Wire and Gold Leaf
Take the ‘Telephone Buddha’ piece. A ruined and decayed wooden Buddha attached by strands of copper wire to golden mobile phones in a round shape – symbolising thammajak or a dhamma wheel.
With it he simultaneously explains and criticises Thai society and focuses
our attention on the conflict between consumerism and Buddhism.
It may scare people as it visualises an on-going conflict in our society
which some may prefer not to “see”.
In another way it is very a romantic view, symbolising social decay and harking back to a time that was more pure. The piece that most clearly demonstrates this is ‘The Decline of Lust’. Dried hanging roses confined in modern acrylic tubes on a background of rust represents a society blinded by its commercial cravings.
Telephone Buddha is made from: Rusted Metal, Wood and Weathered Wooden Elephant
Then there is ‘Elephant Profit’, which takes on the Thai icon. Found in a broken down spirit house, Bob offered the local motorcycle taxi drivers parked outside a new wooden elephant if he could take the old one. They accepted. And after finding the eldest in the gang, resurrected it.
Bob dares to criticise the beliefs of Thai culture by using it as visual art. He understands the visual culture in the context of Thai society and that’s why he is able to produce work that strongly satirises the society we live in.
The work has two sides. One is like a painful, or black comedy, the other is the paradox between Buddhism and consumerism. In many ways it is like Thai society itself – a land of super post-modernism.
© 2010 ArtConverge (ISSN 1918-9273)
