a man and a woman who have lost their souls

Result #1

the majority of the story of Yerxa (Sixths) is that the guilt of being born outside the church of faith is the means by which the soul becomes a manifestation of Christ. He seeks to prove that he is no longer a Christian, or at least no longer an Arab. An attempt to prove his innocence from within his family, in his own way, is reminiscent of the way he tried to prove his innocence from within his family, in his own way, is reminiscent of the way his parents tried to prove his innocence from within his family; and in this way, too, he finds the irony of the illusion that Islam, with its secular myths and public symbols, can keep the soul within the church.

Result #2

a man and a woman who have lost their souls ," reads the title for one of their seven-minute video pieces, Hells Gate, which were also on view in this exhibition. As the first of the series, Hells Gate is the first of a series of amorphous anomalies that superficially resemble human bodies: The building itself is covered with moss, a mossy substance, and the concrete floor of the gallery is painted white. These natural materials, which collectively suggest the ghostly presence of the remains of people who have gone mad, are used to underscore the uncanny nature of nature, in this case that of madness itself.The show revealed a surprising number of extant drawings from this series, as well as more than a dozen works from the two collections of sketches and experiments that together form the basis for Hells Gate. It also highlighted the intellectual and formal differences between the visual and written modes in which these works are represented. A completely sketchy use of language and a subcultural use of print—focusing on craft, technique, and colors—exemplify the intellectual and technical differences between the early pieces. The lack of an assigned chronological order in the exhibition also evokes a contemporary sensitivity to expression, which could be seen in the show as a kind of sonic reproduction of the artists sensibility.One of the earliest works shown in this show was an oil-on-canvas work from 1970, Untitled (window), which consists of a large photograph of a window-paneling house in front of an oil-stick ground. After scraping, sanding, and refouling the image, the works artist, Carl Itä, repeated it on a nearby wall, at times modifying the result and at other times painting the image in white on black—a gesture that parallels Itäs artistic approach to the standard print.

Result #3

a man and a woman who have lost their souls in the midst of this inferno.Watsons style of drawing and paint application in the past has been characterized by an intense, almost tribal art-historical atmosphere. Her past is inhabited by archetypal figures of the ancestral past, but even the most basic of human bodies are augmented with bits and pieces of human-made detritus. The results are either dead or in progress of decay. In Wigwam—a small, spacious, and furnished gallery—wigs with wigs stand next to panes of colored glass that reveal little more than a narrow strip of exposed glass on the walls. The mirroring of color has often been an art-historical device, and this is true of the drawing itself, but in the case of Wigwam the mirroring has turned out to be a grotesquely archaic technique. While the mirroring in Wigwam is significant, it is also a deeply ingrained, often unbearable, and even deranged tradition that no longer communicates its wisdom to our modern sensibilities.Watson has found a way to channel her emotional and existential responses to the destruction of her family, friends, and country. The medium of drawing shows the emotional effects of her grief and pain. Her paintings—which have been exhibited in the gallery in various configurations—are originally sketched, inked, and colored in watercolor and the same kinds of paint applied to the wood panel. The result is a fresh and personal expression of grief. This painting is a magnificent representation of mourning—a deep emotional outpouring of emotions. In this painting, Wigwam, 1994, Wigwam, 1994, is the title for the pictorial exhibit. Here we see a photograph of a British family, including the late father, mother, and son, and the family dogs, standing outside their home.

Result #4

a man and a woman who have lost their souls ____, wittily directed toward a dance performance which will probably be about as memorable as a football team playing at the NFL. A familiar style of writing is described in a gossamer, textured, non-textured paper which is collaged onto the surface of the photograph in a manner similar to that of the archival photographs of art history (for a more comprehensive introduction, see Art in the Age of Television). The scene includes a display of broken windows and the repetitive photograph of a fire truck taking care of a scene of murder and mayhem. The line, written in bright-green paint on a matte gray background, repeats over and over to emphasize the intensity of the place. The placid, even blue-collar mood is enhanced by the fact that the figures are black. A romantic, almost elegant, vision of love is portrayed in this quietly intimate image.The photograph is self-consciously political. The perpetrator is black, the victim black; their lips are parted in a single gesture. A beautiful, radiant woman falls into a kind of taciturn silence while the picture is caught with her hand in her mouth. Blackness itself is invoked, no less explicitly than in the black-and-white photographs of art history. On the opposite side of the photograph are two enigmatic figures, a black man with an almost avaricious expression and a black woman with a thoroughly dark look on her face. The black male gaze is focused on his camera and the black women seemingly indifferent to it. The dark-skinned, messy-looking figures who are part of the image are almost completely covered with dirt, and pose in a manner reminiscent of their landscape pictures. The beautiful, middle-class man who appears on the left is deliberately and humorously blundering; the dark-skinned, bald, almost bearded man on the right is more humorous than sinister.

Result #5

—to disfigure them? The work is a refreshingly bold and funny-fartsy experience.