PERJOVSCHI, at the MET..... "WHAT HAPPENED TO US"
There is a new artist in town. At the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, in the Tate Modern Member's Room, Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi is exhibiting his thought provoking and humorous drawings. Using a really thick black sharpie, this thoroughly modern artist, creates graphitti art that expresses the internal social turmoil in post 9/11 America. As Georges Tocqueville before him, America welcomes an outsider who illuminates the counter ballasts and inconsistencies in our democratic but unequal society. The artist has entitled his show, "What Happened to US" (US being both an abbreviation of United States and for us).
The artist's work, which was created by the artist in the presence of paying museum guests, is presented on one large white canvas, approximately 100 feet tall by 50 feet wide. In this artist's work, some lines are drawn with an assertive stroke, while other lines hesitantly quake along the page. Though the artist utilizes a minimalist style with his thick black line, he creates figures, objects and phrases that interact with one another to express ideas -- universal ideas. Further, he expresses how the actions of the average American affect those who are outside this colossus that is the United States.
In fact each drawing explores more than one topic. There is one drawing in the exhibit, which features a figure tipping over the Statute of Liberty and attempting to look under her dress. This drawing displays the quest for democracy, but at the same time questions democracy, liberty and freedom. See Figure 2 above, Drawing of Figure with Lady Liberty. This figure is obviously looking for something. Is he looking for liberty, democracy or just a thrill? Is democracy merely an object or merely an idea? Or as in Wizard of Oz, is there nothing behind the curtain, what would we find if we were to look under Lady Liberty's dress or into our own hearts. Would there be just a vacuous copper space, or is this a magic space where we can transfer our desires and fears of what liberty actually is?
Satire has long been a tool of the artists to create a dialogue with their audience. Here, Perjovschi's use of humor provides accessibility to his pieces of work. Using a dry sense of humor, the artist delves into global warming, terrorism, class warfare, and of course the perennial favorite "post 9/11 government spying." His works question each American's ability to be driven by noble ideals versus being driven by every day practical needs. And as everybody knows, Americans are very "practical." The characters in his works seem to experience the fact that their noble ideals may be extinguished by their own sense of exigency. This combination of graphic art along with a message has been around for a long time.
Graffiti, is the plural form of the Italian word grafficar. Graffiti has been discovered on the ancient monuments of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Graffiti, also means "scratch." Whether the people of their days were mocking the gods of Egypt, or the god-like emperors of Rome, the use of quick, irreverent drawings and phrases has been used to slander or laud religions, people and ideas.
Mr. artist Dan Perjovschi was born in 1961, Sibriu Romania. He was raised in a Romania that suffered under the brutal rule of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who was deposed in 1989. This dictatorship repressed the publishing and distribution of all ideas and art that did not support the ruling elite. After the fall of Ceausescu, one of Perjovschi's goals was the production and exchange of ideas and art. This artist was instrumental in the inexpensive production of pamphlets, lecture programs and 'public art' that brought the world of contemporary art to a post communist Romania. This artists cartoons about the state of mankind and the 'choices' that his fellow Romanians make were published in Romania opposition newspapers and on the gallery walls of Romania. In 1999 Perjovschi represented Romania at the 48th Venice Biennale. Mr. Perjovschi is a well-traveled and widely exhibited artist. He first came to the United States in 1994 as an artist in Residence, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Recently, Mr. Perjovschi was an artist in residence at the summer arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
In this exhibition, the style and placement of Mr. Perjovschi's cartoons force the viewer to move along with the artist. Especially since these drawings are not placed in any chronological or in the usual left to right, top to bottom order. My attempt to take in the humor, aesthetics, and message of one drawing forced me to drop the image and moral quandary of the previous cartoon. There is a ruffled street artist sense to these pieces of work. Though these drawings are detailed, there is an expressionist quality to them.
Each drawing is a complete work of art unto itself. This artist's pieces differ from a comic strip. Comic strips presuppose background information about either the characters or story line or use a great amount of graphic details, stereotypes, or dialogue to get their point across. Though a viewer of this artist's latest pieces of work should come to this exhibit equipped with a basic knowledge of U.S. history and society, including the events leading up to and after September 11, there is no exposition required. Each drawing is free standing. There is a Spartan use of words and graphics in his drawings. And for the most part, words are more likely to be part of the graphic experience as opposed to being set apart in an air bubble.
In each vignette, the characters are experiencing a range of experiences, including feelings of paranoia, self-righteousness, nationalism, and group psychosis. The artists use of line and composition bring out these emotions.
The artist displays a deep understanding of American icons. Though it is possible that America's icons have become the world's icons, but with a different connotation for each. Another featured drawing shows three drawings of different sizes, one large, medium and small. And upon the largest car is written, "High," and upon the middle sized car is written "Middle," and upon the smallest car is written "Class." Here, the artist is playing with American icons of class and wealth. Admittedly, this is not the first time that car size has been used as comic fodder to satirize American culture, but here the artist twists our usual identification of big cars with high class and possibly turns it on its head. Historically, most Americans, even though they may be at either extreme of the social strata see themselves as middle class, and rising. A car's size, make, year and model has been and continues to be used as barometers of wealth, education and social status. In the work at hand, the artist alludes to the fact that the owners of the biggest cars may not of the highest social position, the owners of big cars may only portend to be of the highest social class. In all good fun, we do not know whether the owners of the small cars are members of the socially green cultural elite driving gas saving Priuses or are they rich capitalists driving gas-guzzling Porsches. We are all coming to these drawings from different vantage points. In most of his drawings the viewer goes through a switching process, whereby your perception of the political or historical point that the artist is trying to get across may switches to the diametrically opposite point. For example, in the car drawing above, one moment you think that the artist wants us to drive small cars, but then the artist is making a graphical statement that the bigger cars are of a 'high' [class].
Especially in a post 9/11 world, how the United States is perceived by the outside world has become a topic of concern by segment of the U.S. population. However, besides donating to charities and wishing the outside world well, most Americans do not have the outside world constantly in mind. Americans are a self-occupied lot with a need for constant self-improvement. Possibly this is because we are a nation of poor immigrants in constant competition and whose mission it is to assimilate with one another and to forget the old world and its constant wars and poverty. Further, though while some people believe that there is a heightened political polarity in the U.S., others may believe that the bill of rights will be squashed at any moment and that the end of habeas corpus is at hand. Though this artist is familiar with American ideas and icons, this artist views the U.S. through the prism of a life spent under a communist dictatorship. On the whole, this artist has a great deal of insight and humor to offer the average citizen of the United States of America of whom he wants to communicate with. The audience can either be amused by these incisive drawings or see them as warnings of a darker side to their own human nature, but I do recommend a viewing.
