The Guise of Disguise
By Amelia Black
Under which mask do I wish to hide?"-Inge Morath and Saul Steinberg
I am a member of the Chicago Kings, a troupe of gender bending artists and performers, who by assuming male personae, break the rules of sexual segmentations and seek to entertain our audience. Forms of disguise have never been far from my art practice. My experience as a drag king has been testimony to the underlying current of transfiguration in my work. The process of interacting with the crowd while masquerading as someone or something else tends to reveal more about the performer than the disguise, and from this awareness I have garnered a unique view of disguise as a format for art.
Disguise, curated by Denise Bowler, at the Manchester Art Gallery, looks at the use of disguise as a medium in art. By creating elaborate disguises the artists are able to depict the frailty of surface deception, as is the case with the work of Cindy Sherman, who documents fictional characters. The essence of her art is captured in the space between herself (the model) and the camera. The women whom she portrays in the recent series Untitled (2000) attempt to regain their youth, through the application of thick layers of make-up to regain an image of glamour. Ultimately they fall short. The photographs document these women in their pitiful final stab at what seems an escape from their own insecurities stemming from being sexual women of advanced age.
In practice, it is rare for an artist’s personality to be absent from their work. Warranted or not, each person tends to leave a unique mark, even when identity is disguised. Artists Leigh Bowery and Nikki S Lee adopt personas that become bigger than the authentic identity of the artist. Seeing the work in post-mortem, the artists become immortalized by their work. Fergus Greer’s stylized photographs record Bowery in the context of the costumes he created. It’s hard to see the real Bowery (a very large man) when he appears so transformed in photographs like Session VII, Look 34 (1994). Bowery, in his creation of occasionally grotesque but always unique costumes, sought to change the way silhouette was understood within the context of the masculine and feminine lexicon.
Disguise presents artists’ "whose work reveals the extent to which it is possible to manipulate appearances and the degree to which it is still possible to shock," according to Catherine Dickinson (exhibition curator). It is impressive to see comparative forms of disguise put to use in art by Bowery, Fergus Greer, Claude Cahun, Marcus Coates, Laura Ford, Kenny Macleod, Yasumasa Morimura, Sherman, Lee, Gillian Wearing, Inge Morath and Saul Steinberg. Admittedly, the show feels overhung, and the selection of such powerful and potent artist makes the space feel over-crowed. The sculptures of Laura Ford brake up the bulk of wall pieces, her stuffed dolls occupying a world of their own which seems familiar yet unidentifiable. Ford’s figures seem unaware of their situation within the gallery context and how harshly they clash against the vastly different work hung in close proximity, their bodies (masked in heavy brocaded fabric) seem aware of little else besides their own plight.
A quotation from Morath and Steinberg depicts a mood of self-consciousness that is ultimately revealed by all the artists in the show. "Who am I impersonating today? Which face do I wish to show to the world? Under which mask do I wish to hide?" Even in a third person status, it is clear that these artists (by choosing to use forms of disguise in their work) reveal underlying insecurities and anxieties. The museum or the stage can feel detached from experiences outside their own context. These activities are part of an attempt to come to terms with our place in a world where gender is drawn in pink and blue lines. By exploring insecurities on stage, we allow ourselves a unique and authentic voice. Perhaps dealing with disguise through art allows the maker to refine feelings about personal identity. In presenting work to the public, we open ourselves to the acumen of the audience whose reaction fuels much of the desire to perform.
Masks, the simplest form of disguise, are infrequently explored in this show, except in the collaborative works of Inge Morath and Saul Steinberg. For them, the mask obtains a status of identity allowing the concealed figures to become props of composition. A paper bag marked by an illustrated visage becomes the face. Morath’s portraits (garish in content) are upset by the bland composure of the models and the forthright nature of black and white photography. The images successfully convince the viewer that ‘what you see, is what you get.’ Paper bags come to personify the models they mask.
On the other hand, Lee’s "projects" reveal her lack of belief that identity is individual. She shows the viewer that with the right posture, clothes, and make-up, one can truly ‘be anyone (they) want to be.’ For Lee’s self-portraits she depicts herself as a part of diverse communities. Appearing to belong to each group she infiltrates, the viewer becomes unclear if Lee has ever belonged in any single group. It is almost as if she naturally comes by the skill of transfiguration. Instead of believing that her portraits are of multiple people within multiple lives, we are left with a single individual with a single life who has in fact created her own community. Claude Cahun became multiple people in order to survive (as a member of the resistance in Paris during the Second World War).
Like many instances of disguise, the show revealed more about the gallery and its curators than the artists. The gallery walls were littered with quotations from local children and an unsightly ‘lounge’ with brightly colored velour couches contained a dress-up box allowing the viewer to also drag up. Their lack of faith in the work seemed to necessitate all the props of pantomime, as if to disguise its difficult content. It would have been far better if the art had been simply left to speak for itself.
Disguise, Manchester Art Gallery, February 12th- June 6th, 2004
