Blogs part 2 (act 3)

The article I chose was from the back section of this month’s frieze magazine about Charles Avery, by Chris Fite-Wassilak. This article talks about Charles’s imaginary place on the world called, ”The Island.” “The Island” is a place where the boundaries of reality and imaginary cross and create a place where living deities can be found. The article goes as far as correlating these works with the 1904 World Fair where you can find towns that are, “…replica villages of the indigenous people of Congo or New Guinea, or the tribes of the new American territory of the Philippine.” This created world is governed by a number of theories, with clever names for places like, “The Analitic Ocean” or “Cape Conchious-Ness.” The article goes on to create the way we would encounter Avery’s work via paintings accompanied by wall text explaining the different attractions of “The Island”

I really liked the idea of creating a imaginary destination and how the author tied it to some of the early explorations of the 1900’s and how they were exploited. I found it very similar and tasteful. What are we exploring in this imaginary world, what would I want to see in this “metaphysical ant farm.”

I also like the way we are invited to an imaginary place that is born from society. Mr. Impossible is one of deities that is explained as, “a small creature called Mr Impossible, who resembles an aristocratic, duck-billed version of Guns ’n’ Roses guitarist Slash.” “The Island” is not a place of finding new and exciting discoveries; it is a place where we discover our land and ourselves. A drawback in using text to fill the viewer in is that the painting loses meaning. The article mentions that it feels as if this place was not real, as if “The Island” could not exist. But unless proven as a real place, wouldn’t pictures of Africa and even other parts of the globe I wasn’t familiar with feel fake and unreal. Take for example the lunar landing; was it real? I wonder how similar were the feelings of seeing a replica village to the imaginary paintings of “The Island.” How resistant to new findings where the people at the 1904 World Fair when they encountered the new information about our world.

I personally can believe in the world that the paintings suggest. I can believe in “The Island” because I believe in the power of perception. I believe that people can perceive a situation differently even though they are together when it happens. Charles Avery is depicting a world that he sees and he interacts with, and just like the fair he is showing it to others. Whether you can believe it or not.