Memento: Soledad Arias and Madeline Djerejian at CUCHIFRITOS, NYC – Berit Fischer

Memento: Soledad Arias and Madeline Djerejian at CUCHIFRITOS, NYC

Berit Fischer

style=’font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext’>The
objectification of a person through artistic reproduction reveals the
problematic nature of representation and its effort to capture life or to even
recall it. A photograph tries to capture a moment and make it memorable, a portrait tries to make the portrayed immortal, while a mirror confronts us with the self.
 

style=’font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext’>memento
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space, as an experience, that is created when one views reproductions of an
individual or the self. The artistic methods used by the artists explore such
moments as much as they expose the viewer to the notion of the ephemeral,
transient quality of our own and collective identity. memento
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upon presence and absence, and creates an ambiguous space for introspection.

style=’font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext’>Soledad
Arias Spill (2002) is an installation of approximately 1,000
two-inch mirrored stainless steel discs spilled on the floor. Reflected in the
piece, the spectator becomes the subject of the work, elevated to the status of
the temporary portrayed. Suddenly, the self is cast into scrutiny: the spaces
between the mirrored circles cause visual interruptions, fragmentations and a
delay in perception, challenging the viewer to discover either the limits of
the work, the self or both. Moving through the Spill, each momentary internal
experience vanishes into the next, further existing only as memory.

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Madeline Djerejian Museum Pictures (2002-2003) presents photographic views of
Old Master and 19th century painted portraits, taken from oblique angles to
include reflections from the museums’ own light sources. Denying the
established perception of a painting, the photographs also break with the
conventional language of portraiture: the traditional protocol between artist,
sitter and viewer is reconfigured. This "re-portraiture" revisits the
resonance of the portrayed, its identification and uniqueness. The individual
in the painting becomes a faint, veiled phantom, freed of an actual referent.
Museum Pictures evoke a sense of displacement, an eeriness of a moment – a
reminder that existence is transitory.

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style=’font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext’>Images can be found
at:

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href="http://www.artistsai.org/cuchifritos/Exhibits/memento/index.html">
http://www.artistsai.org/cuchifritos/Exhibits/memento/index.html

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