Stars and Stripes

Dmitry Komis talks to Jen Denike

Dmitry Komis is a freelance critic and curator. THIRTEEN, an exhibition of Jen Denike’s work was on view at Smith-Stewart Gallery in New York in March.

Flag Girls Postcard, c. 1918. Courtesy of the Artist

Dmitry Komis: You have used the image of the American flag before in your work. In Flag Girls, you reimagine a found photograph of women draped in American flags. Can you talk a little bit about how this work came about, and the challenge of turning a still photograph into a performative video piece?

Jen Denike: I made three photographs in 2006 that had American flags in them inspired by a photograph by Ralph Eugene Meatyard, so I guess you could say I had flags on my mind, then about a nine months later I came across this old postcard from 1918 of six girls wrapped in flag costumes forming one large colonial flag. I knew the instant I saw this image that I wanted to make a video piece, it never occurred to me to recreate it as a photograph, the girls are standing on a stage, which implies that they are performing. I didn’t have any problems translating the still photograph to video as the still itself felt very much alive.

DK: ….Does the flag imagery hold a special significance for you or is it more symbolic of identity or something larger?

JD: The work regarding the flag was more of a chain reaction that evolved from one piece to the next. However in all the pieces I was interested in using the flag as a vernacular object, not really as a source of exploration in national identity. Is it possible to take a symbol so weighted as the American flag, an iconic image that is also an object, and make something so visible become invisible, without meaning? This was my point of entry into the work.

DK: The counter piece to Flag Girls is Gold Stars, which was also inspired by a found photograph, of a Scandinavian pagan ritual. The video also includes a group of 5—in this case—men, circling and humming. This emphasis on repetitive acts seems to be a focus in many of your works, is this something you are consciously striving toward?

JD: Repetition as a form, the choreography, movement, and sound are elements I use to create a turbulence—a distortion—that hypnotizes into a mediated space of impermanence. One of my favorite pieces is Steve Reich It’s Gonna Rain.

DK: ….It has a very calming effect, and also simple and elegant. It also functions as a kind of reversal to Flag Girls, in which the women strip and walk off stage, whereas in Gold Stars, the men start out nude and then put their robes on. Is nudity something that naturally evolved in these two projects, or was the act of stripping something that you consciously wanted to explore?

JD: When I first sighted the Flag Girls postcard, I knew those girls must come out of the flags, it was a definitive act and it was my responsibility to make it happen. But how to get them out of the flags…. after mulling it over, [I] then remembered a recent piece I made in 2006 Girls Like Me, the girls are sucking each others toes repetitively, the mouth becom[ing] a source of exchange and deliberation. I borrowed this action and put it into Flag Girls. Each girl is unraveled by the girl next to her, who with her mouth unsnaps the girl next to her from her flag and so on… nudity? Hmmm… well what else could be underneath?

DK: Can you discuss the screening process of your videos? You tend to project them directly onto walls, which gives them a flat quality. Gold Stars, in particular, can at times look like a drawing.

JD: My intention for Gold Stars was to elicit an intimate, somewhat mysterious quality both aesthetically, and in content. By projecting it small, the piece enters the scale of drawing, a monochromatic palette. The camera then does not move only the figures; the process involved months of coordination, research, casting, costume making. However, none of that matters as my desire was for the final piece to appear effortless like a simple quick charcoal gestural drawling.

DK: You mention costume making. You made the flags in Flag Girls and the robes/hats in Gold Stars, right? Would you consider that part of your overall artistic process? In other words, is it essential for the piece that you are involved in the process of making the costume for the video, or is it more about having it look a certain way that you could not find pre-made?

JD: It really depends on the piece some videos are virtual ready-mades, whereas others like Flag Girls and Gold Stars are completely constructed. The flags were made by my mother and [me], in this case the handmade factor was important due to the amateur quality of the 1918 original image. In Gold Stars I worked with a designer who makes costumes for the opera. It isn’t important to my practice to make everything myself necessarily, although the majority of the time I do, it’s more about the concept and driving the idea.

DK: I also would like to know your feelings about realism. With all the props and preparation that go into the video making process, do you try to maintain a certain amount of realism? At least in the videos you have made in the past, the lighting seems to reflect a naturalness and casualness, whether shot indoors or outdoors.

JD: I’m not sure that I know what realism even is, except that I follow a certain kind of logic and intuition with decision making towards what exists, or is done or undone, or used in the process of making a video.

DK: ….The two newest videos, Flag Girls and Gold Stars, feel more theatrical in setting and tone, with the sets built from scratch, etc. Is that something you wanted to come across?

JD: Absolutely, I wanted to have the feel of an amateur production made for a community club, school, or church.

DK: Are you more influenced by photography or cinema?

JD: Cinema inspires my photography and photography inspires my videos.

DK: Your video, Wrestling, was recently acquired and exhibited by MOMA. Which means that it will be seen by more people than ever before, and probably more than your other films to date. Do you think about where or how your work will be viewed?

JD: Not before I make it, unless it’s a commissioned piece.

DK: Do you have specific instructions on how your work should be displayed, or do you leave it up to curators?

JD: Depends on the curator and whether or not it’s a solo show or group exhibition. For group exhibitions usually the curator installs the piece according to [his/her] vision unless it’s a specific installment with sculptural elements.

DK: Did you consider the MOMA exposure a turning point in your career? Or is that less important?

JD: The MOMA acquisitions was an internal turning point, as many of the artists I looked at early on or actually studied with exhibited at the Modern so it was more like a rite of passage from the past. In the now, I’m happy to be there as part of a new generation of artists, and working with the newly formed media department.

DK: Did you grow up religious?

JD: I’ve never heard my dad speak directly about any sort of religion ever, but occasionally he drops hints about how he should be buried like a proper mason. My mother grew up Presbyterian and goes to church about twice a year mainly for the music, she admitted recently. My older sister is a self-proclaimed Buddhist with several small Buddha’s strategically placed around her home, and listens to Japanese flute music really loud every morning. My younger sister unbeknownst to the rest of us found God at the age of 15, reads the bible everyday and has worked in aids tents in Africa and El Salvador as a nurse… me? The title of my last photographic piece is: What Do You Believe In?

DK: Besides making art, is there something else you always wanted to do for a living?

JD: Astronomer… well maybe not for a “living” but I like looking through telescopes and thinking about space, but in a way that’s a lot like photography isn’t it?