• Blinding Glitz

    Date posted: November 23, 2010 Author: jolanta
    Rhydal, seen here in detail, speaks to Glamour Trance. 21st-century Americans court oblivion in shopping, fundamentalism, hegemony, pedigree, capitalism, sugar, and fashion. The list is long. Calling to mind the protagonists of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels or Rita Hayworth in the film Gilda, the sculpture’s hypnotic sizzle is intoxicating. Glamour Trance freezes time and stunts emotional development, yet supremely entertains, quixotic escapism. All the same, behind the puerile myopia, irony lurks. We turn a blind eye to our culture’s scourges: droning slaughter and daily torture of gentle farm animals. While ultimately Fitzgerald left the city of illusion, New York, many of us continue to eat at the trough of la-la, celebrity glitz.

    Gae Savannah

    Gae Savannah, Rhydal (detail), 2010. Sequins, vinyl, garland, steel, 70 x 19 x 13 inches. Courtesy of Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark, NJ.

    Rhydal, seen here in detail, speaks to Glamour Trance. 21st-century Americans court oblivion in shopping, fundamentalism, hegemony, pedigree, capitalism, sugar, and fashion. The list is long. Calling to mind the protagonists of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels or Rita Hayworth in the film Gilda, the sculpture’s hypnotic sizzle is intoxicating. Glamour Trance freezes time and stunts emotional development, yet supremely entertains, quixotic escapism. All the same, behind the puerile myopia, irony lurks. We turn a blind eye to our culture’s scourges: droning slaughter and daily torture of gentle farm animals. While ultimately Fitzgerald left the city of illusion, New York, many of us continue to eat at the trough of la-la, celebrity glitz.

    Comments are closed.