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| B.O.V.A., 2012 Burns and Martin |
Torsten Zenas Burns and Darrin Martin’s “What If…? In The Days When The Tiger Smoked” is a twisting,
elaborate, convoluted love-story of a cast of characters caught in an
ever-morphing reality. What would your reaction be when confronted with a costumed
comic-book character horse head blowing balloons while singing in a Korean(ish)
karaoke bar? Or how about a
half-dressed duo gently waving arms taped with cybernetic extensions, plastic
figurines, and other go-go gagetry?
This collaborative work provokes reactions
ranging from quizzical brows, stupefied stares, or (best of all) slightly bemused
chuckles. Yet underneath the
playfulness, this work draws on a myriad of pop-culture references and heroes
to expose and challenge the boundaries between machine, flesh, culture, gender,
animal, human, love, object, avatar, and sexuality. The
title draws from two sources: a Marvel comic book series extrapolating
alternate realities in the possibilities of “What if…?” and a Korean saying for
“Once upon a time…” In this
gallery’s parallel universe, space takes on a mystical quality, as if it really
is a land far, far away.
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| Carnalove Workshop, 2010 Burns and Martin |
I thought it would be fun to introduce this zany cast as the ambassadors for all of the cyborg-soulfull-android-B.O.V.A.organic-machanistic-telekenetic-plastinoid-spacesuitery-gorilliaish-hybrid-lyrapoetical-dancers who have ever loved or ever pined for anyone (or anything).
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| Plastinoids, 2010 Burns and Martin |
Meet the Characters:
The Vision
A Marvel Comic creation, this “synthezoid” is an android
that houses a soul. Created by the
villainous Ultron to fight against the Avengers, he is quickly persuaded to
join the team to fight against his vindictive creator. He continually battles for control of
his mind and throughout his evolution, loses and gains different versions of
synthetic skin. He marries the
Scarlet Witch (as Ultron intended) and ends up fathering twins. The Vision is a paragon for the
soulless robot, friendless Frankenstein, or the Tin Man who only wants a heart.
The Scarlet Witch
An X-Men character, the Scarlet Witch possesses both mutant
and magical powers. Hidden from
her father, Magneto, her foster mother, Lady Bova, a highly evolved animal who
lives on Mount Wundagore, places her in the care of human foster parents, but
not before she was endowed with the mountain god’s power, giving her the
ability to manipulate chaos, probability and reality itself. The Scarlet Witch stands for all those
who ever took a chance– on love, on plastic pool toys, on the cyborg-next-door!
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| Connecticut River Date, 2010 Burns and Martin |
ORLAN
A real world artist, ORLAN is known for her unique visual
medium–her own body, treating her skin as a canvas. Although her work spans across sculpture, installations,
video, and bio-art, ORLAN remarkably underwent a series of plastic surgeries to
challenge the tropes of female representation across visual fields, reimagining
portraiture through the possibilities of technology. All the avatars in the world (blue or otherwise), this one’s
for you!
Stelarc
Artist Stelarc goes to incredible lengths to render his body
obsolete–from transplanting a digitally capable ear into his arm to hanging
from suspension wires embedded into his flesh. He has also engineered a human-like, pneumatically powered
walking machine as a six-legged bodily extension, attempting to expand the
body’s function by incorporating cybernetic exoskeleton. In love with your liver who doesn’t
seem to want to stay put? Are your
rebellious ears running away from your head? Or feet walking without a leg? Attachment is such a drag. Stelarc is your man.
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| Q.U.A.D. (Augmenting-Capturing Cluster), 2012 Burns and Martin |
Posted by: Jenai Talkington, Gallery Intern
