"Ghenie has a real way with the image as path to a chapter of history. Reassuringly however the motifs in his work which might fix or reduce out notion of a historic past seem to be bleeding all over the place... The piece made me think of two things, the idea that painting could give us access to the root of our contemporary 'age of propaganda' and the task of the artist in 'review(ing) the avant guarde' - traveling with the progression of art.
Propaganda or illusion seems to lie at the heart of art-making, especially painting. The duality of that which is both real and outside reality (on a par with cinema) might in fact be the highest compliment.? But we live with enough irreality to render this observation meaningless, it is (what I see as) the pursuit of access to 'now time' in the light handing of propagandist images that I find interesting. They float in the background as inescapable ghosts and this seems to me a very modern condition, an utterly mediated (but non the less) world-view.
The process of getting into the mind of someone comissioned to paint the portrait of a soviet ruler is fascinating. Bringing us to the fore of our surficial relationship with history. I really find propaganda such an interesting subject as this Nazi art-form substantiates so much of how we interact with the world and one another today. What is this medium we communicate through other than a child of the cult of personality? (The offspring perhaps of a warming of relations between both the former Eastern and Western state apparatus. The more we see an image of ourselves the more we want reveal, it seems.) And how could I ever do my work with semiotics without the incorporated - logo-ed - world inaugurated by the use of the swastika?! These were the true masters of political manipulation, the tools of which now effect the consumer.
Particularly in the realm of social media we increasingly find that everything/one seeks to establish not just interest and dialogue but (new) language around itself. It's no longer just brands and products, it's me and you and that person I haven't spoken to for 15 years, and their band... Which puts us in the curious position of image navigation and/or large hadron collision. [...]"
*The background of this collage uses Ghenie's photo made by Matteo De Fina and can be seen here. The Jaguar Coat is part of another photo, taken by Dana Dincă and showing Bogdan Teodorescu displaying it.
