ARTISTS
JIM DRAIN
JIM DRAIN PERES PROJECTS For anyone unfamiliar with Forcefield, the Providence-based art and music collective in which Jim Drain participated, a
Rachel Kushner / ARTFORUM
01 Dec, 2004
JIM DRAIN
PERES PROJECTS
For anyone unfamiliar with Forcefield, the Providence-based art and music collective in which Jim Drain participated, a brief synopsis might be in order: Forcefield surged to popularity when, as the clich茅 goes, they were "plucked from obscurity" for the 2002. Whitney Biennial. Their contribution to that show was a pandemonium of ear-cracking sound, seizure-inducing films, and bewigged mannequins sheathed in the collective`s trademark knit Afghans, which look like they were produced by a team of Taylorist acidheads with industrial looms. With an engag茅 ethos involving anticommercial, trash-assimilating, egoless creativity binges, Forcefield answered the hungry call for a new radicalism in the art world. But it`s difficult to remain radical and comply with the requisites of professional success: Faced with a host of pressures and expectations, Forcefield disbanded.
Jim Drain`s first solo show suggested that Forcefield`s aesthetic-psychedelic, primitive-futuristic, and vividly coloredwas largely the result of his ingenuity. The walls were painted in hues of violet, yellow, gray, and pale green and decorated with Op art-style silk-screened diamonds and discs. The diamonds formed a god`seye pattern in hot pink while the discs suggested LPs, Duchamp`s "Rotoreliefs," lollipops, and hypnotists` spirals. Against this funhouse backdrop Drain populated the room with sculptures cultivated from an arsenal of trimmings and notions: fabric-covered spools, tassels, fake gems, fun fur, and pompom trim. These carnivalesque objects conjure medieval court jesters, harlequinade, the `yos kids` TV show HR Pufnstuf, and the Yoruba.
A likeness to Forcefield`s knit figures is undeniable, but the key operation in Forcefield was to render the human figure faceless-a deft right-hook maneuver with an assaulting and scary effect. While the new, vaguely anthropomorphic pieces are intriguing-like mysterious totems of an ancient or alien (but in either case outr茅) tribe-they seem slightly toothless. Drain`s drawings incorporate collaged elements reminiscent of Eduarde Paolozzi, Sigmar Polke, and Hannah H枚ch, but with the addition of deskilled, felt-tip patterning and a sci-fi feel. Verging on coy, at their best Drain`s collaged drawings achieve a compellingly lo-tech Koyaanisqatsi aura: disparate visuals (Chan Marshall [aka Cat Power], a demure skier, a lotus flower, a kid giving the finger, an abject child`s toy) in an adroit matrix of life out of balance.
Culled from a Jimi Hendrix song, the show`s title, tkeskywasfilledwitha1000starswhilethesunkissedthemountainsblueand11moonsplayedacrosstherainbows, is what philologists would describe as "nonaerated," referencing both classical texts printed without spacing and, more obviously, the lexicography of the Internet. There are some rich ideas here: M枚bius meeting points between future and past, sound and color; a nostalgia for Surrealism,`60s graphics, and early abstraction; and craft materials utilized for tactile provocation rather than benign fluff. But as an installation, the show pointed toward a cohesion it didn`t quite achieve. Drain`s imagery suggests kinesis while remaining curiously static. There is, however, a silver lining: The Forcefield gestalt-incorporating music, sartorial madness, a quixotic and aggressive sensibility-might easily have been co-opted by the hungry (and superficial) ghost of the fashion world. Perhaps, by making a bold and timely foray into relatively conventional self-expression, Drain escaped what might have been the collective`s awful fate had their limelit moment lasted too long. And as so many of Forcefield`s best ideas were clearly Drain`s, it seems reasonable to expect that the development of an entirely new oeuvre may require a bit of exorcism along the way.
-Rachel Kushner
COPYRIGHT: Copyright Artforum Inc. Dec 2004. Provided by Proquest- CSA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Only fair use as provided by the United States copyright law is permitted.
PROQUEST-CSA, LLC- MAKES NO WARRANTY REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THE LICENSED MATERIALS OR ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
PERES PROJECTS
For anyone unfamiliar with Forcefield, the Providence-based art and music collective in which Jim Drain participated, a brief synopsis might be in order: Forcefield surged to popularity when, as the clich茅 goes, they were "plucked from obscurity" for the 2002. Whitney Biennial. Their contribution to that show was a pandemonium of ear-cracking sound, seizure-inducing films, and bewigged mannequins sheathed in the collective`s trademark knit Afghans, which look like they were produced by a team of Taylorist acidheads with industrial looms. With an engag茅 ethos involving anticommercial, trash-assimilating, egoless creativity binges, Forcefield answered the hungry call for a new radicalism in the art world. But it`s difficult to remain radical and comply with the requisites of professional success: Faced with a host of pressures and expectations, Forcefield disbanded.
Jim Drain`s first solo show suggested that Forcefield`s aesthetic-psychedelic, primitive-futuristic, and vividly coloredwas largely the result of his ingenuity. The walls were painted in hues of violet, yellow, gray, and pale green and decorated with Op art-style silk-screened diamonds and discs. The diamonds formed a god`seye pattern in hot pink while the discs suggested LPs, Duchamp`s "Rotoreliefs," lollipops, and hypnotists` spirals. Against this funhouse backdrop Drain populated the room with sculptures cultivated from an arsenal of trimmings and notions: fabric-covered spools, tassels, fake gems, fun fur, and pompom trim. These carnivalesque objects conjure medieval court jesters, harlequinade, the `yos kids` TV show HR Pufnstuf, and the Yoruba.
A likeness to Forcefield`s knit figures is undeniable, but the key operation in Forcefield was to render the human figure faceless-a deft right-hook maneuver with an assaulting and scary effect. While the new, vaguely anthropomorphic pieces are intriguing-like mysterious totems of an ancient or alien (but in either case outr茅) tribe-they seem slightly toothless. Drain`s drawings incorporate collaged elements reminiscent of Eduarde Paolozzi, Sigmar Polke, and Hannah H枚ch, but with the addition of deskilled, felt-tip patterning and a sci-fi feel. Verging on coy, at their best Drain`s collaged drawings achieve a compellingly lo-tech Koyaanisqatsi aura: disparate visuals (Chan Marshall [aka Cat Power], a demure skier, a lotus flower, a kid giving the finger, an abject child`s toy) in an adroit matrix of life out of balance.
Culled from a Jimi Hendrix song, the show`s title, tkeskywasfilledwitha1000starswhilethesunkissedthemountainsblueand11moonsplayedacrosstherainbows, is what philologists would describe as "nonaerated," referencing both classical texts printed without spacing and, more obviously, the lexicography of the Internet. There are some rich ideas here: M枚bius meeting points between future and past, sound and color; a nostalgia for Surrealism,`60s graphics, and early abstraction; and craft materials utilized for tactile provocation rather than benign fluff. But as an installation, the show pointed toward a cohesion it didn`t quite achieve. Drain`s imagery suggests kinesis while remaining curiously static. There is, however, a silver lining: The Forcefield gestalt-incorporating music, sartorial madness, a quixotic and aggressive sensibility-might easily have been co-opted by the hungry (and superficial) ghost of the fashion world. Perhaps, by making a bold and timely foray into relatively conventional self-expression, Drain escaped what might have been the collective`s awful fate had their limelit moment lasted too long. And as so many of Forcefield`s best ideas were clearly Drain`s, it seems reasonable to expect that the development of an entirely new oeuvre may require a bit of exorcism along the way.
-Rachel Kushner
COPYRIGHT: Copyright Artforum Inc. Dec 2004. Provided by Proquest- CSA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Only fair use as provided by the United States copyright law is permitted.
PROQUEST-CSA, LLC- MAKES NO WARRANTY REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THE LICENSED MATERIALS OR ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
