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Olan Ventura, 'Superman', 2009, oil and acrylic on canvas, 7 x 6 ft, Image Courtesy of Taksu Gallery
I love super heroes. As a child, instead of your average imaginary friends, I had the League of Justice. Superman, Wonderwoman and Batman were my closest allies in fighting crime in the living room. Good times.
"Batman 1:6", 2009, oil and acrylic on canvas, 7 x 6 ft, Image Courtesy of Taksu Gallery
This love has stayed with me into adulthood. I like super hero films, they are my guilty pleasures. But the genius of the comic book always seems to get lost in translation by Hollywood marketing schemes. Although… the original Superman and Batman films. Christopher Reeves as the Man of Steel? Michael Keaton brooding through Gotham City as Bruce Wayne? Genius. I knew I had chosen well as a child with these two. And yes, Linda Carter from the American TV series Wonderwoman was my Amazonian Idol.
So I HAD to go to Taksu gallery to catch Philippino artist, Olan Ventura’s show Toy Box, that ran from 19 March – 4 April to see all my favourite characters. However, Ventura, is not interested in comic book aesthetics or the human personifications of such awe-some powers. Instead, he focuses on super hero action figures. The plastic toys that children use as conduits for their imagination, to play with, mutilate, and crave with a passion, only to be replaced upon acquisition by another intense need for something newer, shinier, with tinny sound effects and flashing red eyes. Indeed these toys reference what his own children used to transport themselves into an imaginary realm far away from the tiny flat they lived in at the time. But Ventura’s toys, far from embodying the energy of childhood play, are communicating a much darker message. These super heroes are in serious trouble. Peril. Danger even. To the Batcave Robin! But there is no one here to save them… Instead we see these plastic toys, with their joints and shiny patina being restrained, coroded, stabbed, falling, fallen and chained to their brightly coloured pop backgrounds. Who is going to save them? No one it seems. Where are the action bubbles? The Kerpows, the Bams, the Zowies when the good guys face off with the villains? Well, they are not coming. There is no victorious ending. We are just their to question, puzzle, and dare I say enjoy this display of strength made impotent?
Hulk 1:5:5, 2009, oil and acrylic on canvas, 7 x 6ft, Image Courtesy of Taksu Gallery
The pleasure in experiencing this exhibition is due to the nostalgia I feel for the super hero genre. We all (I think) want to be better versions of ourselves at some stage in life. The super hero embodies and spectacles these desires through the drama of their character histories and tormented souls. The imagined worlds they inhabit and the humanity they try to protect are kitsch, dark, cynical and fantastical social landscapes of our own realities. This type of escapism and the commentary it makes on reality has the potential to be highly entertaining and (super) powerful. The action figure, therefore is both a piece of the cynical marketing franchise that makes a gazillion dollars from the films, cartoons and comics as well as a symbol of the ideals, adventure and fun that children (and fans) can have with their favourite characters who star in their own special dramas. But the action figures here in the exhibition are not invincible to the sadism of their owners, and can easily fall victim to torment and torture. Their faces remain frozen, impassive. They are the loosers. Their torturers are invisible, and the winners.
There are 21 canvases in the exhibition and a small selection of perspex boxes filled with painted toys. So there is plenty to see and plenty to enjoy. But after awhile, one feels that Ventura himself is being a little too restrained by his own singular idea. Although violence is implied, it is never taken very far visually, and after the recognition of your favourite characters is over, the subtley of the concept becomes a hindrance to the pushing of boundaries that would help take these works in different directions.
'Captain America 1:8:5', 2009, oil and acrylic on canvas, 6 x 5 ft, Image Courtesy of Taksu Gallery
I was also sad to see the lack of Wonderwoman, Catwoman, Storm, Batgirl and many other kick arse super ladies. And after my normal question in every exhibition I go to, where are all the women? I was reminded by a friend that the title was super heroes not super heroines. Who knew art was so pendantic? And I have to say that is so not cool. However, I did find one super damsel in distress, out in the patio, there, pushed to the side, was Hawk Girl. Hawk Girl? Come on.
(EM)
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Maybe Wonderwoman might have been too literal? She was, after all, constantly getting into S&M-like situations, what with her magic lasso.
Isn’t there another reading of this exhibition. One which might include a freeing of the alter ego, by the chaining of the superhero?
After all the secret identities of these ‘super heroes’ are trapped by the success of their ‘super’ aliases, are they not then freed when the hero is in bonds?
Clark Kent’s life is frequently put on hold due to Superman’s dire need to constantly rescue humanity, as is Bruce Wayne’s.
Steve Rogers barely has a life as Captain America, and Bruce Banner lives in fear of becoming The Hulk.
Isn’t there another reading of this exhibition. One which might include a freeing of the alter ego, by the chaining of the superhero?
I never thought of looking at these works that way… that is an awesome perspective.
Also explains the lack of heroines in the show – perhaps these works are more autobiographical than anything else.
It seems the personal humanity of heroes is always at odds with the need to save the world. They’re heroes because they can’t save themselves.
Sometimes I feel that artists are like this.
Although, correct me if I’m wrong, but seems to me the heroines always had less neurosis and pathology shit going on.
There are always alternative readings, thank goodness!
Yes I think its very interesting to consider the secret identities in relation to these images. Which is the authentic reality for these types of characters, the alter ego or the spectacle of the super hero. Which one is better than the other? In their bid to be normal and fit into society, these secret identities are constantly over shadowed (despite wealth, business power etc) and one might say emasculated by their super double.
But without their super hero identities which we could say defines their higher purpose, would they really be better off? Apart from Bruce Banner, he would definitely be happier I think.
I suppose I didn’t think about this because they are action figures rather than the characters themselves. But of course it makes total sense!
read and re-read. analyze and reconsider. all the same. with a 100 ppl talking abt the show, u’ll get 100 different interpretations. but this doesn’t change the fact that this series of work only has A SINGULAR idea.
and since when does cartoon heroes have genders? isn’t it all the same. just different sense of fashion, that’s all.
Hey vincent:
annoying pedantry tiem!
“doesn’t change the fact that this series of work only has A SINGULAR idea.”
“a SINGULAR idea”, as in one exceptional idea? would you share — i didn’t catch the exhibition myself …
“a singular idea”, meaning just one idea? if so, shouldn’t that read “a single idea”, or “an idea, in the singular”?
curiously, I had always been under the impression that the artist’s intent is only a segment in the vast rubric of the contextualisation of any one work of art. should I scale back my scope of reference?
Hi vincent, for a moment I thought you were channeling fei :P you got an interesting point though. maybe it’s more like a singular motif or trope rather than idea?
just wondering if this is problematic for you?
but that’s contemporary pop in this region for u i guess. most of the time, it’s more about nostalgia than contemporary. and since it’s often more like repetition rather than reiteration, a series may often seem more like a production line – moreso than what Warhol is doing!
I don’t understand how any work of art can have just a SINGLE idea.
Is it like how cartoon heroes is just one idea and then the impression that they have gender is merely an interpretation (like a costume)?
Don’t make any sense to me.
Hi guys,
I think a production line is a good way to think about the challenges in presenting this work. There were just too many pieces on display that diluted the potency of the idea and possibilities for further interpretation. Less is more.
There seems to be two ideas that the artist is trying to put across here firstly the commitment to the idea of aesthetic style of kitsch pop realist painting and secondly the conceputual underpinning of the nostalgic thinking around super hero action figures and how they can be restrained, debilitated and what that means to viewers.
It is the conceptual which leads to the multiple meaning and generation of new ideas but because the aesthetic style seems, so… formulaic and repetitive that, it is this that has the potential to limit the works. But also this is a commercial show which is important to remember. Not so much about creating a space for ideas but a space that has lots of works to sell.
Em I didn’t catch the show but I think its interesting how this post and Jun Kit’s mommy pictures are getting such attention. I guess there’s a big compulsion for people to seek out father and mother figures in our lives.
Issue of repetition may not necessery indicate that the artist is selling out for a commercial show. I think its also a sign of obsession or compulsion that certain artists have. Picasso and his ladies, Cezanne and his apples, Mondrian and his grids…
From what I can see and read from Eva’s piece and another article in Sunday Star, I’m thinking maybe..
– It’s a Crucifix (Dundundundun Hammer Time)
o Artist is god. He giveth and he taketh.
o Hero is variations of the J.C / matyred saints, thus the issue of repetition is justified?
o Viewer can either be egg throwing jews/roman/pagans or heartbroken X-ians
o Hawk Girl is an Angelic substitute. Satan perhaps?
(Sorrylah but I have to automatically apply religious reading on Pinoy artist’s work given the dominance of Catholicism there)
– It’s Oedipus Complex:
o Artist/Viewer is a child who loves and protects the mother figure (Wonder WOMAN, Cat WOMAN, Storm). Hawk ‘Girl’ could represent a non treatening sister figure.
o Heroes are the father figures the artist/viewer needs to castrate but he lacks the courage to actually break/cut them into totally disfigured pieces eventhough they are just toys. He tries and he tries but he just cannot kill the father….
(My Freud is 101 only lah kay)
– It’s Post-Colonial S&M:
o Marvel and DC heroes are symbolic of Western dominance.
o Gagging and torturing them reflect the historical, national and cultural struggles against the foreign ‘oppressor’. It could easily be read as a reference to the abuse of Iraqis by American soldiers and a symbolic way of dishing out justice.
o Ironicreely, by painting in a Western tradition and working within a capitalistic contemporary art system, the series restores power to the West.
o Malaysian painters tend to glorify local heroes but they are still playing within a system established by the West. Resistance is futile? 4Chan to teh rescue :P Heh heh, I am turning myself into a 4chan spokesperson.
– It’s Consumer Erotica:
o The shiny plastic hero figure is an engorged phallus.
o Sexual tension is created by imagining the phallus wriggling and struggling.
o The purchasing of the painting creates a moment of orgasmic jouissance for the buyer as he can now become the hero’s savior or arch foe. Onlookers are like a noob sidekick or the helpless public.
o The absence of female heroes and the choice of men in spandex may indicate that the art and superhero universe in general favors a consciously or unconsciously homosexual audience. Or perhaps the things done to female figurines are too taboo to be shown…
o What’s that movie/book(?) where a fan of a famous author imprisons him because of her desires for him? Could be something similar here. Instead of protecting and setting free the people or thing we love, we incapacitate and bind them to us for fear of loosing our identity without them.
– It’s Consumer Madness:
o No matter how well made they are, plastic toys tend to fall short of the power and intensity of the stories in comics and the wonders of animation/ live action, just like how most commercial products never meet the promises created in advertising.
o Thus we punish the toy for fooling us into thinking that our individual imagination can match that of an entire the creative industry. Each painting is a reminder not to buy into false promises. But the hero myth is too powerful and we sucumb to another hero and his merchandise, followed by another round of dissapointment/guilt/rage where we’ll again abuse or neglect the merchandise.
o In contrast, people who buy such toys and keep them in mint condition are perhaps displaying symptoms of a Peter Pan complex, perfectionist personality, or dillusions of immortality.
o The painting of the abused heroes and its consumtion combines the two condition to make a more complicated state of madness where reality and fantasy becomes entangled much too much.
– It’s Just Biology:
o Our body is wired with a fight or flight system and our reproduction necessitates an ability to spot healthy mates.
o For adult males, the paintings are attractive because they symbolize a defeated alpha male or a captured prey. On the other hand, the female will not be attracted to images of a weak male figure. Images of a tortured heroiens are more attractive for them since it signals an opportunity for the female viewer to take over the position of Queen bitch.
o For yound predators, the torture of playthings resembles the fun training animals get from playing with their wounded prey or within the pack.
Well, just shooting out some view points to understand how singular ideas might gain popularity because of the multiplicity of views offered.
I’m also using this comment to further understand why images of pain and torture are so popular. Almost 95% of the college kids I’ve encountered have seen and enjoy Happy Tree Friends. I think its their generation’s version of Looney Toons. I’ve yet to find a reference point that can bridge the different language and class barrier these kids have.
Oh Oh about the cruxifition interpretation, I think the choice of using platic toys instead of actually drawing imprisoned cartoon heroes may suggest the triumph of spiritual strenght over that of the flesh…thus victory? no victory?