Exhibition Review : You Though to Think? curated by Tristan Martinez
You Thought to Think? Installation, courtesy The Latent Space, works by Tristan Martinez, Kalan Strauss, Matt Mancini, Kyle Berger, and Max Capus
Written by Trevor Bishai
We live in a world of objects, which many would argue are responsible for creating entire modes of knowledge and understanding in the modern era. Since they can shape not only our lives but our minds as well, artists often take on the responsibility of prompting us to be critical and question our surroundings. Curated by Tristan Martinez, an artist, and Photo Editor at Musée Magazine, You Thought to Think? prompts us to interrogate the objects around us and how they play an often inflated role in shaping our lives.
For Martinez, the link between the individual and the commodity is emphasized with the use of the diptych. Three of his works follow a similar pattern, in which the left-hand-side image shows a person photographed from behind. Since they are seen only from behind, their identities are totally concealed, save for the clothes they are wearing and the color of their hair, perhaps. By concealing their faces, the defining features of each subject are whittled down to the commodity, signified by fashion, which comments on the loss of individuality in late-stage capitalism. Today, our identities seem to be defined less by the content of our characters, our personalities, or what we do with our lives, and more by what we decide to wear and present to the world. As many theorists and critics would agree, the space for nuance between each individual is rapidly shrinking in the face of conformity.
Head Spread 5 (red hood/space age) © Tristan Martinez
Instead of leaving us with only this veiled critique of the loss of individuality in the form of the portrait-from-behind, Martinez adds another layer to each diptych. On the right side of each work, there are objects of varying character. Some are commodities, like in “Head Spread 5 (red hood/space age),” where we see a gleaming 1950s-era automobile, or in “Head Spread 1 (hats),” where the top part of a beach umbrella folds in the wind to resemble a hat. In the third diptych, we see a bird-of-paradise flower which, interestingly, hails from nature, and yet could still be regarded as a commodity due to its proliferation in the marketplace.
You Thought to Think? Installation, courtesy The Latent Space works by Max Capus, Matt Mancini, Marge Rendell and Noel Mercado
Martinez’s work certainly does not lend itself to a sole interpretation, but the consistency of his diptychs suggests that there is a question and an answer in each work. The concealing of the individual’s identity in each left panel asks a host of questions: who are they? What are they doing right now? What’s going through their heads? If we consider each right panel as an answer to these questions, we would certainly be frustrated, as we are left with merely a banal object. Moreover, even if we did that, few people would want to liken themselves to the commodities which dominate our lives and the world.
Further questioning is presented by additional works of photography at the exhibition. Three works by Marge Rendell depict popular fashion items including jewelry and sneakers. Two of them—“Over a Blue Sky Weekend” and “The Abuse of Beauty”—are screenprints that are highly pixelated. The printing dots on these images are blown up to the extent that one is keenly aware that they are looking at an artificial representation. By emphasizing the artificiality of each image, the wholeness of the object is broken. No longer the sacred pinnacles of the latest fashion trends, these objects are relegated to the mundane. Rendell’s screen-printing techniques thus create a veiled critique of commodity and fashion culture, and in doing so, prompt us to ask more questions about the things we hold dear in our lives. Rather than being the sacred answers to our worldly problems, as capitalism would like them to be, objects of fashion are shown to be highly artificial, refusing to grant the commodity the venerated status it has assumed under modern capitalism.
The Abuse of Beauty © Marge Rendell
While their answers are scarcely going to be found, the asking of these questions is a good place to start. The title of this exhibition, You Thought to Think? prompts us to not shy away from, but rather to keep asking the difficult questions about our world today. We live in a society dominated by the objects around us, and usually, completely lose sight of how our lives are shaped by them. With the help of art that asks more questions than provides answers, we are reminded to be critical of the forces of capitalism that shape the world we live in today.
You Thought to Think? is on show at The Latent Space, at 4150 N. Elston Ave., Chicago, IL 60618, from May 8 until June 7, 2021.
You Thought to Think? Installation, courtesy The Latent Space, works by Tristan Martinez, Kalan Strauss, Matt Mancini, Kyle Berger, and Max Capus
