Fall
and Desire
Installation with sculptures, projection and photographs at XS Gallery
FALL
and DESIRE, Lukas Felzmann's Installation of media, sculptural objects,
mural photographs, and projections identifies, concentrates, and
in fact, relies upon the landscape as a metaphorical place. Landscape
becomes a symbol for Lukas Felzmann, a means for searching out and
identifying the significance in the relationship between human culture
and the landscape. The act of wrapping string around a tree (and
photographing it), making piles of rocks (and photographing it),
or making a pendulum that remains in the landscape (and photographing
it), establishes a theatrical character to the artistic event. In
part, the act of creating the art becomes a valuable means of understanding
the system and forces that define the relationship between human
culture and the landscape.
Fall and Desire is an installation rather than a exhibit. It is
not about object of beauty, presented on a gallery wall for the
appropriate edification. Installation Implies "object theatre",
a circumstance whereby the artist uses a gallery setting to create
a stage; the objects become the actors and the viewers the audience.
An installation usually infers that all the objects, whether hung
on the wall or placed on the floor are inter-related. They are,
quite simply, intended to be integral parts of the greater whole.
The technical explanation behind FALL and DESIRE is relatively direct.
The space within the gallery is controlled with the placement of
objects, defining the corridor as an intimate environment. The space
is defined (and confined) in order to create a context for the audience
to experience the objects and photographs. Elements and images of
the natural world are interspersed with constructed artifice; a
series of rocks is hung by wire over polished metal plates, implying
gravity. The diptych of mural photographs mounted on free-standing
wall-boards block the space as well as connect with the physical
objects in the center of the gallery: the first mural photograph
in the diptych represents an abandoned mining cement structure (monolith)
which contains an image of another, similar suspended rock. The
second mural photograph represents the rock in motion, implying
the combination of time and gravity. A huge oversized shirt hangs
from the wall at the other end of the gallery (blocking the space)
reflecting and absorbing the projection of birds in flight. The
other mural photographs, one of a brain, the other of a maze, extend
the woven thread of meaning into similarity. The white maze with
chalked stones reinterprets the patters on the brain (or vice versa).
A light box, ornately and boldly designed, reflects an image of
mirrors that become an angels wing upon a shadow. The mystical illusion
of flight, travel, and/or journey is conjured within the structure,
as well as within the projection of birds upon the shirt. Axe handles
(the heavy edged heads removed and replaced with long strands of
treated paper and newsprint) are hung upon the wall like weapons
ready for use. An axe is by definition a tool, yet this tool becomes
a whip, implying punishment, yet the context is controlled by the
captions: western civilization, arthistory, science, language, and
religion. Each axe (or whip), contains the printed word from those
sources. A dictionary is cut into long sections, treated with verathane,
and attached to the axe handle. A bible is dissected into another.
Charts and maps into another. Upon close inspection, the distinctions
represent systems of thought and language, just as the tool becomes
a means of solving a problem. Language becomes a tool, and the axes
reflect systems of knowledge. The hanging rocks incorporate the
tension of the negative space between the rock and the polished
metal plate, implying a system- gravity. The tools become a sculptural
language; the objects become the words, and the installation becomes
the sentence, paragraph and statement.
The textural quality (both real and implied) of the objects and
photographs maintain a consistent thread implying a relationship
among them. They are identified as symbols by how they are contained
together within the space. Each object or photograph represents
the landscape, and contains reference to the natural and implied
systems that define it. Visual and conceptual patterns are repeated.
Landscape becomes the stage, conveyed through the illusion of the
photographs as well as created within the corridor. The objects
become symbols; when tied together, they suggest a metaphor for
what Lukas Felzmann calls a "process of thought".
At first the viewer is challenged to interpret the selection of
objects. Meaning is not automatically revealed, especially given
the different nature of each object. How, for example, does a huge
shirt relate to an axe handle? Or how does a mural photograph of
a brain tie into a hanging rock? The key to understanding Fall and
Desire involves not the deliberation of differences, but within
that process of thinking about the similarities. Woven throughout
this installation are clues that identify the artist's intent. The
interpretation of FALL and DESIRE relies on the audience's ability
to engage their imagination within the objects and photographs,
transcending those objects' singular presence. FALL and DESIRE is
artist theatre, static, timeless, and challenging. The installation
is the performance, and the landscape is the stage.
Peter Goin
