Research

 

Hugh Mendes – An Existential Itch

2001-2008

Fri. 11 Jul 2008 – Sat 23 Aug 2008

 

Hugh Mendes started to collect scraps of newspaper in order to paint them as still lifes during his MA. Some he would buy, some he would find, some lift here and there from cafes, or wherever. All about him lay raw material: snippets of history, with images attached, to paint. He started making work for his graduation show, which was scheduled for 9 September, 2001. On one occasion, while walking along Brick Lane, he found a section of an Arabic newspaper that featured a picture of a guy, turbaned and wrapped in cloth, pointing a gun at some unseen target. He painted this anonymous, menacing figure, then juxtaposed this with a portrait of George Bush along with the headline, ‘So Gore did really win Florida’. For Mendes, the juxtaposition meant that, by winning the election, however fraudulently, his prize was the ominous figure on the other panel of the diptych. The two faced each other, opponents in some unknown battle. Then came the events of the 9/11 and all at once this picture, which to Mendes had no specific, historical meaning, became ubiquitous. In the aftermath of the events, it became clear that the gun-toting man was Osama Bin Laden. He subsequently made a series of paintings based on the events of that day, and featured them in his first solo show ‘Into Manhattan’s Memory’, in November 2001.What came to be called the ‘War on Terror’ is one of the four categories, some overlapping, that Mendes has pursued over the past seven years: The events of 9/11, the march of science and especially cloning, obituaries, and stories related to the art world. And yet, among the strongest works hovers above all four categories, offering a comment on them all. Titled simply World News, it depicts the tangled, fleshy jaws and gnashing teeth of two dogs engaged in ferocious combat. With vivid simplicity and directness, the painting reveals the banality of violence we find depicted everyday in the newspaper. World News always features war, combat, bloodiness, and the painting illustrates our appetite for everything ‘red in tooth and claw’, as Tennyson characterized nature, despairingly. If there is a hint of resignation in this stance, I think that’s true: this is a strangely deadpan picture. But Mendes brings his own intensity to his project. He sees the work as having a critical function, and wants to recuperate these newspaper images in order to re-present them, and so jolt us into reflection.

The obituary paintings, by contrast, have an elegiac calm, and even when Mendes depicts irredeemable villains like Saddam Hussein or Augusto Pinochet, the tone is never mocking. Look at Hussein, for instance, strangely handsome with his full beard and intense glare, or Pinochet, so resplendent in his full military regalia. What one senses immediately when looking at these pictures is the pleasure that the artist took in painting them, as if he takes a keen interest in how these monsters have been depicted in magazines and newspapers, and what the ramifications are of re-presenting them as small canvas tombstones. Keep in mind that Mendes often mixes and matches image and headline: he wants to find the combination with the most friction, the most compellingly ambiguous juxtaposition. Mendes has painted everyone from the Pope, Robert Altman, James Brown, Isabella Blow and an anonymous philosopher to somebody’s pet dogs. Mendes equalises all of these lives suspends them in a new eternity. His pictures offer a kind of resurrection, however modest. Craig Burnett

This exhibition related very much to the topic of memory.  It got the audience to remember past events and people. For example: the Russian Alexander Litvinenko, when anybody sees this picture they will remember the big news story surrounding his poisoning and subsequent death.All of the pictures in this exhibition had the same public interest related to them.  This exhibition was different as I haven’t seen or heard of many other artists who have used big news stories of people dying as inspiration for their work.

It also shows a good use of cross media as he has used newspaper articles for inspiration his paintings, and also the way in which he has laid out his paintings, in the style of a newspaper layout.  Some of the pieces were so similar to actual newspaper articles they could have been printed.

 Although this exhibition was about death, I found it quite refreshing the way in which it had been produced, making the painting look like a newspaper and the subjects themselves, it was amazing how much you can remember from just looking at the painting.  For instants I had forgotten about the big public row there was over Shamboo the cow.  After looking at the exhibition, I decided I would collect some newspaper articles to see if I could get any inspiration from them as Mendes did, looking specifically for articles that are documented enough to trigger the memories of a bigger audience.

Hugh Mendes is a British artist living and working in London. Since completing his MA at City and Guilds of London Art School in 2001, Mendes has been making paintings based on newspaper clippings. This exhibition offers a seven year ‘mini retrospective’ and brings together over a hundred of the works for the first time both in the Main Gallery and with an exhibition of his obituary paintings in Gallery Two. Hugh Mendes has exhibited in Tokyo and New York as well as exhibiting extensively in London in both group and solo shows at Hales Gallery, Sartorial Art, Keith Talent and The Foundry. Mendes was awarded the Fresh Artist of the year award in 2003 and has recently curated his 5th exhibition Icon at the Primo Alonso Gallery in Hackney.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Joel Sternfeld

On this site: landscape in memoriam

 

This book is about places in which people have been murdered, for people to look back and remember that a place of such innocence and beauty can hold such horrid and morbid memory. I think this photography works well with Hugh Mendes work.  Although they are both focusing on different subjects, they are both focusing on death but dealing with the topic in 2 totally different ways. The photography by this artists very good, it very much links in with the exhibition that I have looked at as well, as that was a collection of paintings of obituary notices and the people, where as this artist has concentrated on the places in which these incidents have happened.  

This is also an example of memory, and the way the artists has used it to create art.

The photograph appears to have been made at dawn, and the scene is awash in warm morning light. Although not cantered in the frame, the tree itself is the focal point of the image. Sternfeld says he “went to Central Park to find the place behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art where Jennifer Levin had been killed.

Sternfeld’s photographs are marked by two absences: the absence of official, sanctioned memorials and the absence of people. The absence of people in Sternfeld’s photographs is conspicuous: these are sites of human violence and tragedy, yet Sternfeld removes all human presence from the majority of these images. The photographs are primarily landscapes, but because of what the images represent, their meaning is tied to human motives and behaviours. These photographs raise questions about the impact of human beings on the environment and the landscapes we occupy.

 

 518 101st Street, Love Canal Neighbourhood, Niagara Falls, New York, May 1994

documentaryworks.org/punctum/onthissite.htm

 

Talk to Her – Almodovar – Spanish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXvW6aLoyh8

 

After a chance encounter at a theatre, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia, Marco’s girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession, has been gored and is in a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma, Alicia, a young ballet student. The lives of the four characters will flow in all directions, past, present and future, dragging all of them towards an unsuspected destiny.

Textual Analysis

Camera: The first shots we see of the 2 main characters, Benigno and Marco, comes about 2 minutes into the film, the start of the film we see a piece of ballet, which we do not realise the significance to until we meet one of the female main characters.  It also has a link to Marcos past, which we see disclosed later in the film.  I feel the opening of this film brings intrigue and puzzlement to the audience, which will get them watching the film.

There is also extensive use of close ups and medium shots in this film, I feel this brings intimacy to the view as they feel they are included in what is going on in the shot and the conversations between the characters.

During the first shots of the Bull fight, we see many close ups and long shots, this creates a juxtaposition between the action that’s going on in the shots and the camera angles and editing that has been used.  We see the power that the woman is holding over the bull and the injury inflicted by humans on such a fierce beast, working with very close and long lasting shots, which enforces the power that she is holding over the bull.

When Lydia, the bull fighter is getting ready for the fight, that leaves her in a coma, there are many close ups of al the items of clothing that she is wearing, as she is putting them on, this builds up the tension for the audience of what is about to happen. It also emphasises that this will be the last time that she will be doing this, but she and the audience are unaware.

We see a shot where Lydia has first met Marco and has been ‘saved’ by him. While she sits in the car and waits for him we see her watching him through the wing mirror.  This shot creates a feeling of secret admiration that Lydia has for Marco.

Editing: Throughout this film we see many long shots, even when the action in the shots is building pace and tension for the audience we are not seeing as many cuts as we would do in a British film, I feel.

There is the use of fade transitions throughout the film with text to show the passing of time, in moths and weeks.  This is a good way to move the film along, but not the usual way that a British or American film would show the passing of time, they would mainly assume the audience would understand this by showing the characters wearing different clothing and different seasons outside.

There is a scene where there is a change in focus, where we see Marco sat at his girlfriends bedside and we see the focus switch to her as we assume he is thinking of her, we then see the focus switch back to him, which then switches to a past sequence of him and Lydia, when they first met and were really in love with each other.  During this sequence we also see the use of picture in picture.  This is used to show a past sequence within this past sequence.  I like the use of this effect, as it adds depth to the sequence and allows the audience to see further into the past of the character. 

Sounds: in many parts of this film we see scenes where all we hear is that of the rustling of clothes of the heavy breathing of one of the characters, this helps to build up the tension within these scenes which helps to build up the pace of the film even though the camera and editing paces do not increase at any of these points.

There is a big use of instrumental music in the background throughout the film.  The feelings put across by the music are constantly changing, sadness, unknowing, power, love and many others.  When we first see the bull the music is slow sorrowful but also powerful, showing the difference between the characters.

When we see the second bull fight when Lydia is gored, the music becomes panicked, but once again the camera shots and editing do not speed up.

When Marco goes into Lydia’s room in the hospital, the music changes to a longing and sorrowful music as well as creepy as Marco is scared but longing for his girlfriend to recover.

Mise-en-scene: We see Marco crying at the ballet performance at the start of the film, Benigno is intrigued by this as he does not understand why the man is so affected by the piece, but by the end of the film Benigno understands why his friend cried.  This shows how the characters have come to know each other and how close they have become.

Benigno’s sexuality is constantly in question throughout the film, as he has never experienced love. At the end of the film both of the Men seem to be in love with each other, more than friends but not knowing whether it is more than that, this does leave the audience questioning how much their friendship has developed, and how much each of them depend on each others friendship.

We see rain linked to sadness, when Benigno and Marco see each other for the last time it is raining and when Benigno writes his letter to Marco to tell him about his suicide it is also raining.  After these scenes we think back to the start of the film, where Benigno’s love interest has an accident and goes into a coma, it is raining at this time as well.

Effects: We see the use of black and white film, when Benigno recalls the film he went to see for his coma patient.  This is interesting as it is bringing old and new cinema together.

The story makes good use of past and present events to help the story to flow and give visual aids to the description of the events the men have gone through.

There is the use of narration over the flashbacks as the characters tell there stories to each other, this also helps the audience to learn more about what has happened in the past to these characters

There is a lot more music used in this film than there is used in any English films I have watched. It is used a lot more to build tension and atmospheres in the film.  Although this is done in English films it is more predominant in this film.

I liked the way that this film has been produced using the flash backs, and the flashback to silent movies.  I think this helps to explain the emotions the characters are feeling with everything they are going through.

If I had to group this film into one of the 3 areas in which we have been asked to research into, I would place it in with memory.

 Memory               of the men recounting what has happened

Of the girl in the coma, once she has recovered and meets the man that once spoke to her whilst she was in a coma, knows instinctively that she has met the man before but does not know where from, she is instantly drawn to him, even though she is not sure of where she knows him.

 The Ethics of Memory

 By Avishai Margalit

 

The idea that disturbing unconscious memories play tricks on us, and that we can recover these memories through the hard work of analysis, is no news.  Indeed it takes pernicious cases, like the so-called repressed memory syndrome of children in California who supposedly recovered memory many years later and accused their parents of sexual abuse in childhood, to draw our attention to how powerful the memory-prison metaphor actually is.  Freud himself, to his great yet insufficiently acknowledge credit, warned against just such use – or rather abuse – of the prison metaphor. Still what permeates our culture today is a rather crude and manipulative version of this picture.

 

 

Laura Spinney

The Guardian, Thursday December 4 2003

Article history

The American Psychological Association (APA) now takes the line that most people who were sexually abused as children remember all or part of what happened to them, and that it is rare (though not unheard of) that people forget such emotionally charged events and later recover them. But it states that, “Concerning the issue of a recovered versus a pseudomemory, like many questions in science, the final answer is yet to be known.” And the debate simmers on. Several new lines of evidence suggest that the interaction between memory and emotion is more complex than was thought. Powerful emotions, it seems, can both reinforce and weaken real memories. We may be able to actively degrade painful memories. And false memories, once accepted, can themselves elicit strong emotions and thereby mimic real ones.

 

 

This article shows how people can suppress the memories they wish to, like the event has never happened. This is a powerful trick that the memory can play on the person.  It shows the control the memory has as well.

The metaphor of the memory prison is a powerful use of words to show a way in which memories can be locked a way for as long as they are not wanted.  This is an incredible thing which the memory can do.

I think the idea of memories being trapped/locked away, could be an interesting way to portray this theme and something that I could use as a starting point for anything I am going to portray.

 

 

 

Spectacle of the Symbolic
-Kevin Tucker

The creation of power

Civilization moves off power yet no where on Earth does power truly exist. Power is not a thing, but a relation of domination and ownership, an idea. Power is the product of property, be it place, person or what have you. In a world of limited wants and unlimited means, ownership (which can not exist without property) is useless.

 

What is important here is an understanding that life exists beyond the sacrificial order of civilization, and that things such as ‘power’ can only be maintained so long as their role is upheld. A revolt against the power/civilized mentality is a big step towards taking down this beast.

 

This article is an interesting one to read.  The fact it is so adamant about the non existence of power is a fascinating and interesting argument.

 

The fact that we have created the position of power, so that we can be higher and have positions of authority over others is crazy.  It is people in positions of power that are creating war and power struggles with each other and reducing others to live in poverty.

 

I do not like the thought that people have created power so they can control others with less than they have.  It seems unfair and like dictatorship, as the person with all the power can say what the other can and cant do, and never allow them any power for themselves, which means they will never get to that position of power.

 

 

Cronos

 

This isn’t just a new story of vampirism though, it is also a tale of family. The love, devotion, and acceptance of family is beautifully shown through the grandfather Jesus and granddaughter Aurora, as is the dark side of family, with it’s violence, abuse and victimization, as shown through the obsessed De La Guardia and his nephew Angel.

 

I think that both names of the antiques dealer, family name and first name, are chosen very specifically. Jesus because of the resurrection theme – he dies at least 2 times and is resurrected by the cronos device. Gris for grey – just look at his skin colour towards the end. It might be an allusion to Jesus Gris being somewhere between black and white (= good and evil), but that’s just me speculating.

And the name of the killer nephew is a very strange choice: Angel de la Guardia, guardian angel. Strangely enough I couldn’t help but like that character just a little bit.

 

 The Elephant Man

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ye4YTZOq2fk

 

I think that this film relates very well to spectacle, but also anti spectacle, which works well with what I have been looking at.

 

John Merrick tries to disguise himself from society and hides his face, trying to be an anti spectacle, but by doing so creates a spectacle of himself.  By wearing a hood over his face to cover his disfigurement from the public, he makes a spectacle of himself as he is drawing attention to himself as nobody else is wearing one so he stands out within the crowds.  So by trying to become an anti spectacle he creates a spectacle of himself.

 

Also whilst he is being showed to all the other doctors, before we the audience see him, an anti spectacle is created as we see him through a cloth as a silhouette, therefore the audience are then waiting to see the spectacle.

 

In both of these instances the spectacle of the elephant man has been shielded from the audience, creating a spectacle when he is finally shown to us, and when the public and crowds in the film finally see him he is also seen as a spectacle.

 

He is also a spectacle for the way in which he moves, as no one else moves in that way, he stands out in the crowd.  So although he has covered his body completely so as not to scare anyone of be laughed and jeered at, as he is a spectacle, people still feel the need to stop and stare and jeer at him as he is still different from everyone else.