CRITICAL REFLECTION
Dana Newmann: In the Realm of Surrealism
Phil Space 1410 Second Street, Santa Fe
IS THERE ANYTHING OUT THERE THAT DANA NEWMANN CAN’T USE IN HER ART? My work is built from the ephemera of everyday life. —Dana Newmann
spoons, and five wooden fish hanging mobile-like in front of
the story possibilities are endless. The Dialogue photographic
what was once a gorgeous flower-painted clock face. Plenty
pairings are pure cleverness and creativity. In Dialogue IV we
of story elements here. The Surrealist’s Cabinet of Wonders
find two nineteenth-century photographs called cabinet cards.
features a bright green wooden suitcase and its title is hand-
The photos are of two young women, obviously sisters.
There are tiny charms hiding in her collages. There are pages
lettered in white onto black piano keys glued to an outside
Newmann has hand-lettered onto each photo a conversation
from music manuscripts and dictionaries. Animal teeth,
edge of the case. Just like the wall pieces, the cabinets are like
about sibling rivalry where the sister on the left touts her status
marbles, political campaign buttons; nothing is off limits.
three dimensional collages and should also be read like ever-
as firstborn and the sister on the right boasts about being
And it isn’t really that she repurposes these things. It’s more
shifting stories. Newmann has been a collector of treasures
prettier and thinner. In Dialogue V the entire conversation
like a rescue operation. I look at her work, whether it’s the
throughout her life and using them in her art is what she
among the pictured individuals takes place through collaged
framed collages, the shadow boxes, the curiosity cabinets, or
describes as a way to “honor the objects but at the same time
fortune cookie inserts. Fire is a somewhat simpler collage, but
an altered book retelling of a Max Ernst novel, and I see a
pass them along into life.”
with big impact. One day while cutting up an old dictionary and
million little details from my own history. Isn’t that a game
The gallery’s largest room holds nearly two-dozen framed
tossing the pieces onto the embers of a dying fire, Newmann
piece from Monopoly hiding in that collage? Wait, didn’t I have
collages, “psychological studies,” and “dialogues.” In much of
retrieved the page where the word fire appears. She collaged a
a tiny pocketknife like that once? (I gave it to Barbie; it was her
Newmann’s art, she offers us the tools to tease out a story, or
second singed page under it and added snippets of burnt-black
size.) And the vintage photographs are just like those of my
even several. Her philosophy is that the work should be read
paper as highlights. The result is eerie and beautiful. Newmann
great-grandparents.
like books, and then reread to glean even more detail from the
may categorize her work as surrealist, and she’s right, but she also brings us face to face with the grim reality of childhood gone
Newmann has an interest in the history of art, and the
elements, or to come up with a whole new story. In A Matter of
pieces in the show’s front room are collages reworked from
Physics she gives us page one of a musical score, a letter-E stencil,
and past treasures lost.
history. She has taken pages from a reprint of Max Ernst’s
part of an ornate picture frame, and a little cluster of green
—Susan Wider
1934 surrealist graphic novel, Une semaine de bonté, and
European postage stamps. From these superimposed elements,
Dana Newmann, Memento Mori Curiosity Cabinet, 24”w x 21”h x 6”d, 2010
collaged bits and pieces of cutout images onto the original pages to create a new feminist reading of the novel. In addition to the three framed single pages on the walls, we can also page through the entire book (conservator’s gloves provided) which rests on a nearby lectern and contemplate Newmann’s use of strategically placed cutouts of snakes and vegetables. On one page a man’s head has been replaced by an octopus. On another, a woman’s breast has a giant radish pasted onto it. It’s not so much ton sur ton as it is vintage sur vintage. I won’t be able to use old-timey clip art now without thinking of Newmann’s feminist treatise. The gallery’s middle room contains three curiosity cabinets, several wall-mounted shadow boxes, and a demi skull. The skull is an assemblage entitled Sagittal and is perhaps the most interesting of this group of items because the search for what’s inside is ridiculously fun. The skull rests on its right cheek, like a bowl. Everything is Clorox-white and at first the contents look like a bleached brain—the right brain in this case. Closer inspection reveals tiny bits and pieces of, once again, rescued treasures. There are many types of animal teeth, a wishbone, small animal skulls, tiny jaws, and the occasional hand or leg from an antique china doll. It’s hard to stop hunting in there for other things we might recognize. Inspired by sixteenth century cabinets of curiosities, Newmann’s cabinets are also great fun to explore—and this time touching is allowed, no gloves necessary. The cabinets are beautifully planned and are found objects, not built. For Memento Mori Curiosity Cabinet, whose title is written on an oversized luggage tag tied to the handle, the cabinet might have been an old doll trunk or a traveling salesman’s sample case. Inside are milagros, old books, a child’s shoe, antique
SEPTEMBER
2014
THE magazine | 57