One of the collaboration artists in this issue, Roman Signer, has an affection for explosives. Motivated by a delight in observing physical processes, Signer is both dramaturge and di¬rector of the theater of natural forces. He unleashes the hidden potential of materials and, in images of anarchistic whimsy, he meditates on the danger and poetry of ordinarily latent processes which surface only as accidents or as functionally oriented aspects of our quotidian economy.
Equally “explosive” are the approaches of the other two collaboration artists, Sarah Lucas and Matthew Barney. They also engineer states of being, subtly operating in liberated, or yet to be liberated, territories.
Both Barney and Signer emphasize the strong sculptural intent of their work. Actions, films, and photographs circumscribe objects that underscore the transience of things. Matthew Barney lures our gaze towards physiological processes in which cells and organs, flaring up in rococo agitation, are transmuted into figures of uniquely sexual beauty. Before our very eyes, Sarah Lucas blows up the discreet social and behavioral structures that govern our civilized lives. The specific brand of humor which inhabits her art results from rubbing up against the “pure air” that prevails in an art world unaccustomed to deal¬ing in certain “vulgarities.” This issue of Parkett is an invitation to journey through images of wild and audacious beauty, enhanced by the delicate commentary of dynamic loops and flourishes of Elliott Puckette’s Insert.
in fine condition.