show statement

In a world that no longer believes in truth all that we can rely on is its cousin sincerity. Truth is a claim to objectivity, to universality, but these myths have been debunked by the project of postmodernity. We can now only trust sincerity; a term that can be defined as subjective truth. Fueled by phenomenology, psychoanalysis and consumer culture, postmodern living has made subjectivity king. The rise of the cult of identity has replaced “us” with “I” in all thinking. How can love survive this onslaught?

Love is in essence about the other, about holding another in higher regard than you do yourself. But love manifests itself in many ways; it can be affectionate, benevolent, brotherly, crushing, devastating, devoted, distracting, free, innocent, jaded, obsessive, platonic, protective, reserved, romantic, secret, sexual, and tender; but it is always sincere. To love someone is perhaps the most sincere thing we are capable of doing. It is the point in our “me” culture where someone else’s needs, wants, and desires become as important as your own. This is especially true during the crush.

stage 1: the crush Romantic crushes offer us hope to transcend the divide between ourselves and another person. They promise a connection to another person that is deep and meaningful. And no matter how jaded we have become by past loves, we always believe that this time, this time is different, this time it will work. But we all know that falling in love is as much about the fantasy of being in love and being loved as about the experience of loving someone.
stage 2: love Love is like wearing rose-tinted glasses, it is impossible to see the world in its stark reality. Our perception of the world, and especially of the object of our affection, is tainted by love. Nothing is spared, it is the most powerful mediating filter in the world. We are inspired to do (the lover as muse is an old concept). We are inspired to care deeply about something. But ultimately all of the reactions the lover inspires are desired because of their effects on us. Loving is ultimately a purely selfish act: we love someone because of how they make us feel. Driven by how it affects us love can sometimes become obsessive, like an addiction. We become stuck in a fantasy or grow bored and disillusioned. Feelings are funny things, they change, our desires change. Eventually in all relationships circumstances change and force us to choose between the reality of love with our partner and the fantasy of love with another person. Fantasy usually wins.
stage 3: the break-up Breaking up is hard to do, the tinted glasses are ripped from our eyes, glaringly exposing faults in the lover, in us, and in the world. It is now that we realize that the image we held of the other was not the same as the person in the flesh. It is only after love that we are capable of being sincere with ourselves about love, and it is painful.

To stop to analyze love at the end of a relationship is to conclude that love, like sincerity, is an ultimately futile exercise. Both are attempts to cross the divide between ourselves and another person. We realize that ultimately no bridge can be built here: the gap is too wide, our perception of both our own and the other territory is always shifting. We remember painfully that love is as much about how that other person makes us feel as it is about how much we like the other person. This is what is known as the relapse phase. We swear off boys and girls, we decide to live a chaste and pure life, and look forward to a long, lonely but productive life.

But unlike those who swear off pleasures of the flesh for an eternity of God’s love we mere mortals succumb to the temptations of the heart. With a smile, a small gesture, and a knowing look we are trapped and fall once again into that rosy world full of possibilities. We never learn our lesson.

-muriel bartol

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Some Notes on Love

I hate lies (poetic nonsense). But the desire within us has never lied. There is a sickness in desire that often makes us perceive some gap between the object imagined and the real object. It’s true, the beloved individual differs from the conception I have of that individual (1).

This Georges Bataille quote presents three issues in relation to love, desire, and fantasy. It first establishes the sincerity attached to the instinctual behavior of desire. Desire in its interior form does stay true to the personal relationship between the desired and the desirer. Once this desire enters the external world through act or display, it is then subject to factors of experience and history that can contort it out of the sincere allowing lies and ruptures to sneak in. Secondly, Bataille acknowledges the disjunction between imagined ideal and the desired real that then thirdly, hints at the question of what this gap provides. This suggests the existence of some form of love that is outside the individual and is reaffirmed when Bataille writes, “What I love in the person I love – to the point of wanting to die from this love – isn’t some individual existence but the universal aspect of that person. Although this aspect that risks itself, risks me.(2)” This universal aspect (worthy of risking life itself) must be the ideals cast onto the beloved individual. The beloved then becomes the embodiment of these ideas and provides a possible chance that they might be realized.

In addressing what this provides the desirer, Bataille compares this “carnal love” with the “divine love” between man and God. “Carnal love, because not ‘sheltered from thieves’ or vicissitudes, is greater than divine love. It ‘risks’ me and the one I love. God by definition is not risked.(3)” God and the universe are not perishable and therefore, not riskable. He might also be providing a model for what that risk does. Despite the fact that the origins of this desire are not lies, the act of placing them onto an individual and allowing them to enter the real world may allow possible form of lying, then providing the desirer a realization of living. “You can’t claim you wished for the journey, only that you are it.(4)”

What happens when desire is not acted upon but instead left in this in between state? This provides the desirer the opportunity to relish in the universal aspiration that one would want from love as an act to be displaced from unhappiness. But this state also locks the desirer in that penultimate moment of chance, while at the same time preventing the concrete realization of winning or losing. Bataille asks the question, “is there anyone who can’t comprehend the fact that happiness is the most demanding test of all for lovers? (5)” To stay in the in between state of desire acknowledges this difficulty and also removes that test. Its one-sidedness makes no need for compromise. To make a desire concrete allow chance in and establishes a new realm of circumstances.

I grasp the object of my desire. I tie myself to this object, live in it. It is as sure as light, and like the first hesitant star in the night sky, it’s a marvel. In order to know this object with me, someone would have to accommodate my darkness. This distant object is unfamiliar, but familiar too – every flowery exhaltation of a young girl, the hectic flush of her cheeks touches it. And it’s so transparent a breath will tarnish it, a word dissipate it.”

This in between state acts as a respite from the pain of love lost. However, Bataille reminds us, “pain shaped my character. In school, with my frostbitten fingers – pain is the teacher. ‘Without your pain, you’re nothing(7).” Eventually desire will win the desirer over again and continue the circle of love and pain with the hope of this time winning the game of chance. “The truth is, that for the most part, love is extinguished in attempt to elude nature: which has to risk love again and again.(8)”

-Dawson Weber

(1) Georges Bataille, “Love,” in The Bataille Reader, ed. Fred Botting and Scott Wilson (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), 94-5.
(2) Ibid., 96.
(3) Ibid., 95.
(4) Ibid., 94.
(5) Ibid., 95.
(6) Bataille, “Chance” in The Bataille Reader, 40.
(7) Ibid., 37.
(8) Batialle, “Love,” 95.

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curator's statement

This show was initially going to be about the fall of irony and the rise of sincerity. Irony had been so prevalent in the last decade, but the tides were turning; an embracing of sincerity had become palpable in the recent work of a considerable number of artists. However, the more we thought about sincerity the more problematic the theme proved. One of the problems that arose was the question of what the artists were being sincere to: material? themselves? their audience? others? But this was only a minor challenge, the real problem was defining sincerity; it seemed that everyone has a different conception of the idea, and we were often confronted with the cute notion that many artists were “sincerely ironic.” It soon became clear that sincerity per se was too nebulous a topic- like a dense fog it coveres everything but is impossible to define.

Further, I came to a problematic conclusion about sincerity: in attempting to convey sincerity there is an inherent gap that prevents the artist (or anyone for that matter) from ever being able to be able to do this. As Josh Jordan wrote in an e-mail; “If it is one thing I have found to be true in this world: is that there is nothing more insincere than someone pledging their sincerity to you” Sincerity was proving to be most ironic. It is perhaps inevitable then that I ended up committing a most heinous faux pas - in curating a show on sincerity I became deeply ironic about the idea. It didn’t help that my background in evolutionary biology kept rearing it’s ugly head; I could not get past the idea that sincerity, like altruism, is ultimately a selfish and self-preserving act veiled as its opposite. I suppose that coming of age in a world that takes a very skeptical look at the true intentions of the martyr-like generosity of Mother Theresa (or is it just me?) it’s difficult to get very far embracing sincerity. But the fact remains that however problematic I find the impulse to do good, to be sincere and generous, I still believe and search for these utopic ideals.

I was back where I had begun and did not know how to get out. I could not bring myself to put together an ironic show on sincerity and a I dreaded a show celebrating sincerity because it would fail to convey the underlying complexity of it. So we went back to the art. We had accumulated several pieces of work that incorporated the idea of sincerity. Looking at our selection a curious congruency emerged; most of the work centrally incorporated love. Once we realized this the show seemed to pull itself together. Like pieces in a puzzle the works complemented each other and created a diverse but cohesive look at love and sincerity. I was sincerely satisfied.

-muriel bartol

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heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley heather harmon muriel bartol dawson weber john white c tamara sussman chadwick rantanen joseph del pesco josh jordan johnne eschleman holly stalder marty ackley