‘THOMAS DEMAND’ – which ran MAY 5, 2012 – JUNE 23, 2012 at MATTHEW MARKS GALLERY in CHELSEA, NYC.<\/strong><\/p>\n p.s. I’m just guessing<\/em> the paper was painted, or otherwise custom-colored in some places. there are NO visual brush strokes – a very important visual factor – contributing to the over-all modernity and coolness of the piece. hyper psychedelic collage party – NOT !! plus it’s great that the paper paint job is NOT shaded !! it totally adds to the ‘irony’ & sweet ‘desire’ of the overall work. great color tonality, too. <\/p>\n so, disaster is re-constructed – and you can think on that – for YOURSELF !!<\/p>\n YES. this is the scenario for the that big tsunami and nuclear reactor meltdown, hello Kitty – in Japan. THOMAS DEMAND, ‘Pacific Sun’, 2012. Film and Sound Installation. 147-1\/2 x 197 in.<\/p>\n the gallery press release was the most generous with the details, history & behind-the-scenes production – on this piece:<\/p>\n “Based on a video of a cruise ship caught in a storm between the Republic of VANUATU and AUCKLAND, New Zealand which the artist found on Youtube (!!), ‘Pacific Sun’ follows the full narrative arc (!!) . . . . (love how that echoes the ‘arc’ of the wooden serving bar in – the ship’s cafe, above !!) . . . . of the ship’s violent encounter (!!) in the Tasman Sea. Seen from the point of view of a security camera in the boat’s cafe, the film begins with the subtle movement of small items and escalates to full emergency. <\/p>\n ‘Pacific Sun’ was filmed over 15 months, and is the most ambitious undertaking of the artist’s career. The film was made on a full scale set and, like Demand’s models for his photographs, was completely constructed of paper and then destroyed. It comprises a total of 2,400 frames, filmed one at a time, as animators meticulously retraces the movements of each item in the room, shifting the paper models of plates, lemons, pendant lamps, chairs, an upright piano, and a refrigerator by several millimeters at a time.”<\/p>\n BIG QUESTION: so, where were the human passengers ? case in point. global warming. item: this summer – hot enough for ya ?<\/p>\n yep, I’m telling ya – DAN ASHER gonna be bigger than JEFF KOONS. mark my words.![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/demand-Spring-2012-1.jpg\" "\\"demand--Spring-2012-#-1\\"")
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\nor as artlovers called it at the time: “FREIZE NOT, DEMAND HOT !!!”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nfrom COMMES DES GARCONS . . . to THOMAS DEMAND – without skipping a heartbeat !!
\noh, what our ‘bags’ tell – all about us !!<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nTHOMAS DEMAND, ‘Kontrollraum \/ Control Room’, 2011.
\nC-print mounted on plexiglas, 78-3\/4 x 118-1\/8 in.
\n(I bet Matthew Marks made out like a bandit – on this one !! – the prices & edition numbers – were not posted, btw.)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nit’s not just the loneliness of the installation, very sparse in a big white room, or the loneliness of the photos, huge and empty of humans, in human situations – NOR the actual historical disasters they speak to – but that the scenarios are meticulously, well broadly meticulously !! re-created from PAPER. and paint.
\nand I think – in real life scale. look again !!<\/p>\n
\nI mean, do they have such a great range of ready-to-use construction paper in Germany. who knows, maybe ?
\nI’ll have to ask him, Thomas Demand, that is – the next time I see him. <\/p>\n
\nyou can google the situation & the THOMAS DEMAND recreation situation, and find out all about both – by YOURSELF, too.
\ntons of words – were written on the background stories, of the actual event & the art – duh.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nin the back room – was a big looped ‘recreation’ animated video\/film and sound installation. very striking for the visuals, the eerie soundtrack, and of course – the screening being ENDLESSLY looped – all alone in that big otherwise empty, and super professional – exhibition room.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nagain, the scale, color tonality and paper folding (!!) – was super: sweet and moving. a tragedy in motion – now put into stripped-down replay – forever !!<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nnote: the computer was the first to go – !!<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nagain, composition-wise & sculpture-wise: dig that wooden ‘bar’ arc !!
\nwhat a nice sweep of ‘rich’ – non-color !! and paper construction !!<\/p>\n
\nwere they already rounded up in an emergency holding area ?<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nso, obviously the BIG PUNCH – to the whole gig – is the very COOLNESS with which the narrative of disaster – was re-created, and filmed.
\neverybody was talking about the show when it opened – and not just because it was NOT a $40 shlep to Randalls’ Island !!
\neverybody got, that this coolly x 1,000 transitioned piece – was ALL about the living . . . la vie loca !! – of the fast sinking world as we knew it – that we live in – that runs a new anxiety vibe under everybody’s life force – in human year 2012.
\nnot to mention: FAMINE ? SEVERE DROUGHT – widespread across the (former) bread basket of the USA this summer.<\/p>\n
\nit’s gross footprint vs. tiny fingerprint. aka – the BIO \/ ECO WARS !!
\neven 5 yr old Hushpuppy is having nightmares about the crashing, melting icebergs ala ALEXANDER McQUEEN, in that g-r-e-a-t Louisiana bathtub ode – ‘BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD’ – did you see it, yet ?<\/p>\n