Zrcaljenje - Chassis - Châssis. Mirroring by Tilen Žbona
Donnerstag, 06. Februar 2014 - 19:00 Uhr
Galerie Schleifmühlgasse 12-14
Arte (non) povera
It is in the shape I think, in the curves to which this material is bent. It is in the shining of its polished surface that reflects the blue sky. At least in my imagination it is there that beauty takes a rest. One moment earlier I still looked at a magazine on a page where an image was trying very persuasively to establish the starting point for my fantasy. There she stood in a desert. Sun was high at a specifically indeterminable position. The doors were lifted up like wings of a noble bird inviting me to go in. It felt like a protected and reserved area. It felt like beauty is not only the sensation on the surface. The leather seats were soft to touch and the steering wheel was just the right grip for my hands. When the engine started its sound caressed my ears. I felt thrills all over my skin. I felt all the joy on my skin. I felt my skin shiny like the polished varnish that reflects the blue skies. After a moment of these erotic dreams it all ends up on the surface and the feeling even evolves to my appearances. But there is an engine running and there are some wheels turning, there is something real happening behind the appealing image on the glossy paper of this magazine. It is true, it is awfully true that I am not really attracted to fancy cars. Especially not to those that are sold for an amount that might be inappropriate even for a decent place for living in this city. Or in any city on the world. Actually I feel a certain degree of repulsion about that kind of luxury and I do suspect it is just because I can’t afford it. A kitschy sunset, falling autumn leaves, a long Internet chat with a distant old friend or a new pair of jeans are the things much closer to my heart. But I read about these tests that revealed how people lose the empathy and sense of community when they get more power or feeling of being more wealthy than others.
About half a century ago some artists made critical statements about the values on art market and society in general. By using some everyday cheap materials and pointing to the ideas instead of objects they fought the war against the bourgeois, materialistic perception of art. The idealist movements occurred in art before that and that is now part of history already. Some say that Conceptualism and its Italian version Arte Povera failed. But actually those who make big profits from those artworks today failed in comprehension of the meaning those artworks carry. And not only that. Every artwork needs to be reinvented, recreated at every encounter. By exploiting its historical existence we are only polishing the surface of precious varnish on nicely curved shapes in an image on a glossy paper.
Works of Tilen Žbona are not made of everyday, cheap material but they are descendants of the ready-made tradition. By capturing in video and on photographs or bringing to the gallery pieces of intentionally destroyed luxury cars, he unfolds a paradigm through which the less empathic members of global society is acting. It is not different at all how already for decades rain forests have been deforested for growing palm trees, drinking water polluted by spilling chemicals from textile industry, people removed for building structures for Olympic games or creating national public debts. These are only few examples of destructing society or environment intentionally or by neglecting the consequences but always just from a very personal and materialist interest. The art of Tilen Žbona is subtly pointing to such issues but using materials that fit to present time. The old masters used soil, water, pieces of wood found in the backyard to create artworks and cause confrontation with issues in question. Approaching to the parts of a destroyed car literally, we can speak in terms of scrap material but there is a big difference between this and some old bricks. That is scrap indeed, but definitely not cheap or poor material. And as well it still carries a lot of precious aesthetics through which the symbolism and meanings emerge into contemporary space and time.
Vasja Nagy