We love it when art doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s such a rarity these days that when we heard about the Smart Ass show at Southern Exposure, we knew we had to rush out and catch it.
The eccentric group of artists in Smart Ass finds humor in their work and in the mundane, whether it’s rearranging the lawn furniture of a neighbor or stealing luggage from an airport carousel. However, it quickly becomes apparent that there’s more going on beyond the obvious witty one-liner (well, except for Dan Witz’s photo of a cocktail umbrella and plastic bunny stuck in a pile of dog poop, we’re pretty sure there is no deeper, hidden social context there).
Kora Jünger’s series of drawings, World’s Saddest Songs, inspires something else entirely. Jünger is the girl at every party, camera in-hand, taking shots of you passed out in a chair, sharpie pen on your face and scratching your balls. She then takes these photos and traces them onto drawing paper and adds her own brief hilarious narrative, such as the image of someone’s grandma with a party blower, and the text “Blow Job” scrawled underneath. Most of Jünger’s drawings made us laugh, some made us uncomfortable and a few made us wonder if that was us passed out by the toilet last week after one too many vodka tonics.
The next artist in the show we came to think of as the Andy Goldsworthy of San Jose, that is, if Andy had a sense of humor. Last year, Susan O’Malley set out to fulfill a self-prescribed residency in her hometown neighborhood of Willow Glen, and by placing fliers on neighbor’s doors, asked if they would be interested in collaborating with her by offering up their lawns for alteration. Often working at dawn, O’Malley carefully enhanced the landscapes of neighbors’ yards working only with what was offered: fallen leaves, garden rocks, stray hoses and frost. The accompanying video documentation shows her skulking through bushes, crawling through tire swings and ultimately making a great joke out of the perfectly manicured lawns of suburbia.
SFist Shelley, contributing
Images: Kora Jünger, Blow Job and Susan O'Malley, Lawn, San Jose Residency
On the other hand, Virginia Kleker’s piece Luggage, appears to be a dirty trick played upon an unsuspecting airline passenger, and ends up being a cry for help. On Jan. 20, 2005, Kleker casually strolled into the Oakland airport and did something we’ve only dreamed of, she walked off with the first nondescript black suitcase on the carousel. From there, she took the suitcase home and methodically went through Mr. Lloyd Spence of Laurel Heights’ personal belongings. Her series of stills from the piece, shows her trying on his clothes and documenting every piece of cultural data that could be obtained from the contents. We come to realize that Mr. Spence is a tall man, with broad shoulders, size 33 waist and dark hair, who likes golf and Toblerone chocolate.
While we were disappointed that Kleker didn’t happen to stumble upon any S&M gear or the deep dark secrets of city officials, we found ourselves endeared to Mr. Spence and his ugly yellow suit. Which is exactly what Kleker was hoping for. Her series of stills is punctuated by her “Engagement Protection Agency” statement, mocking the one our government mandates to be placed in our own suitcases after examination by baggage inspectors. In it, she asks for forgiveness from her victim and tells him, “You can be angry, upset or confused without feeling guilt. Maybe you will tell this story to another and be closer to them for the confusion.” She ends by insisting that she “needed this.” Even though we may have giggled at Kleker drowning in Mr. Spence’s oversized suit, we spent more time contemplating our desperate need for intimacy and whether her bold invasion of privacy was any more legitimate than our government’s.
While some of the work in this show was “funny ha-ha” and some of it was “funny strange,” some of it was just “funny bad.” Such was the case with Dustin Fosnot, who uses the unfortunately ever-popular landfill denizens of Styrofoam, plastics and tin foil as well as found objects and jury-rigged electronics to create voids, drifts and ledges that speak to the emptiness of the materials themselves and the stupidity of waste in general. Beyond our initial response of, “wow, how’d he make Styrofoam bubble like that?” we then had to ask ourselves “who let this guy in here?” We found his diorama-like installations boring and poorly crafted. Not to mention the oddly-shaped garbage flying over our head which didn’t seem to make any sense at all. Then in the midst of the Styrofoam melee, was a child’s sandal in a jar of formaldehyde. Huh? Are we missing something here? We get the part about waste and overproduction of unrecyclable materials, but Fosnot’s ultra-intricate mini apocalyptic 3-D scenes missed the mark and left us feeling empty and wanting to start a campaign against wasting valuable gallery space.
Before you leave the show, don’t forget to take notice of Ryan Thayer’s wall piece, Ceiling Tile Wall which might be easily missed, as he’s taken one of those boring office ceilings with fluorescent lights and tiles and turned it into a wall. This piece complements his freestanding installation, Untitled (Experience of Place), an office so tightly built around a desk that it would make even the sanest among us a claustrophobic mess. We never thought we’d say this, but we prefer our cubicle, thank you very much.
Smart Ass
Southern Exposure (401 Alabama St. @ 17th St.)
March 10 – April 15
Hours: Tues. – Sat., 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Images: Virginia Kleker, still from Luggage and Dustin Fosnot, Snow Pit
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"We love it when art doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s such a rarity these days..."
Are you SERIOUS? Art these days is nothing but a giant circus. You should see this years Whitney Biennial; biggest circus of art in the country! If anything there is a vast lack of serious art out there, especially when it comes to young and emerging artists. I wish some of the serious artists' out there would get some real recognition. Maybe if artists who took their work seriously were a greater force in the art world, there might actually still be some funding for the arts! Why should anyone take art seriously if the artists themselves can't even do so?