Skalman explained that he wants his work, titled “Home Movies,” to reveal itself to the viewer and that he didn't want to tell people what it meant to him. He seemed to believe that by not attaching any meaning to the work viewers could and would assign their own meaning. He wants his work to evoke memory and to be a sensory experience that affects others. It is crucial to recognize the tension and the balance between the flat image and the three dimensional image. Skalman said he hoped his piece would be like a “vacation get away”.

The MCASD commissioned Skalman to create a site-specific installation and built a room especially for it that was housed in darkness. Only a few people may enter at a time, if you knew where and how to get in. A black curtain covered a small doorway behind which Skalman’s work could be seen. Complicating matters was its placement directly adjacent to a larger projection room showing Belgian artist Johan Grimonprez’s documentary film about the first airplane hijackings. However, once inside Skalman’s special viewing room, slowly in the dim light you begin to see the image of a mountain top with a slim edge of light coming from behind it. The illusion is captivating in that you are not certain what creates the image. Skalman would not reveal in his talk how it was made. There is some lovely music that accompanies the piece and keeps you focused on the image. As you stand in the dark it's difficult to tell if more light slowly appears or if your eyes simply adjust to the dark and it appears that there is more light. In either case, there isn't any significant change that occurs during the five minutes or so that one looks at the landscape.

I left wondering what motivated him, what he thought it was about and why he would be unwilling to share that with his audience. Artists have a gift when they have an audience and not sharing things that could serve to bring richer awareness to a piece seems miserly. I personally didn't find myself creating meaning around the image. As far as it being a “vacation get away” - I would like to know where I was. Skalman is an academic and I would assume used to speaking to groups. It still strikes me as a lost opportunity since he didn't share with us the 'why' behind the piece. Unfortunately as it was, I didn't find it all that interesting beyond its value to have a gee-whiz quality because you're not sure what you're looking at, whether it is an actual sculpture or a video projection or a contour drawing.

Moving on to Lewis deSoto's piece in another room gave me what I came for – an artist brave enough to talk about the personal reasons he made “Paranirvana”. This piece really fulfills the mission of the exhibition. It is somewhat humorous, is poignant and eternal. “Paranirvana” is an enormous air filled balloon sculpture as a Buddha reclining. This Buddha is created with muted colors of browns and beige and sports deSoto's self-portrait as his face. DeSoto explained that one of the reasons he made the piece was because he had been thinking about the recent death of his father. His father had died at home in the living room and no one had witnessed it. DeSoto wondered about the fate of his father's consciousness. He wanted to make an image that captured the moment of death as one of peace. He mentioned the volume of images of death in art history that provoke horror and that he wanted deliberately to oppose them. “Paranirvana” is very calming, despite it's gigantic inflated presence. One cannot help but think of the typical giant balloon sculptures used to sell cars or furniture we see from a speeding freeway. DeSoto's sculpture doesn't seek to earn your dollars, but it does gain your attention. DeSoto also mentioned that since Buddha is not an identifiable person with a known likeness he was free to give him any visage he felt would work. In Buddhism, he told us, there is also no identifiable self so again, he could use whatever image he chose. Using his own image gave his sculpture an unmistakable relationship to his reality. It could be viewed as a remarkable display of self grandeur but after hearing him speak, I doubt it is anything more than a clever answer to an interesting question. After all, do you know for certain what Buddha looked like?

Lastly, Kevin Lynch spoke about Octagon. Lynch did work for the Ultimate Fighting Championship which is a mixed martial arts sport. The fighting takes place in an octagon shaped ring, hence the name. There are a number of pieces in the show but he focused on the installation of 200 before fight and after fight photos he took of many fighters. Lynch, too, was generous with his discussion and comments. He mentioned that he didn't think the photos themselves were “amazing pictures” but that they captured honest emotions. That struck me as rather self-deprecating since they are very strong photos. I have never been particularly interested in fighting professionally and may have skipped looking carefully at these photos if not for his talk. They are remarkable photos in their ability to reveal many truths to his camera. He needed to gain the trust of the fighters over time so they would reveal themselves to him. That alone is a commendable skill. Lynch felt that over time he was able to look at the first photo and sense whether the fighter would be able to win the fight or not. He pointed out how focused the winners were and how often the losers exhibited a nonchalant attitude that could not possibly be prepared for the fight ahead. Lynch spoke of how people that go to see these fights are there to vicariously live through the bravery, power and courage the winners and the losers exhibit. He came to really respect all of them and said that they are some of the most highly trained athletes in the world. He said that in order to fight one must suppress reason and logic and allow only the will to surface. It left me recognizing that in many ways, that is what artists do, too. And art lovers come to live through the art a life that is brave, strong and able to transcend all kinds of barriers in order to create.

www.jamesskalman.com
www.sotolux.net
www.kevinlynchstudios.com