H
CRITICAL REFLECTIONS
E rin C urrier : S even M iles P er S econd
Blue Rain Gallery 130 Lincoln Avenue, Santa Fe
History is written by the victors, and Erin
corrupt rule of Hosni Mubarak. In a companion work to the
In fact, the only critique that might be made of Currier’s
Currier’s show at Blue Rain triumphs. The centerpiece of
Bouazizi piece, Currier presents another large-scale portrait of
powerful show here is that all the figures she depicts come
the show is a breakthrough six foot head-shot of Mohamed
Ai Wei Wei, the Chinese conceptual artist who was recently
from places other than the United States This is minor criticism
Bouazizi, the Tunisian produce vendor who lit himself on fire
unjustly imprisoned for his longstanding, outspoken critique of
of the good and important work she is doing, and I know that in
on the seventeenth of December, 2010 in protest of local
the Chinese government. We see political refugees who were
the past she has addressed these issues, especially in relation to
government officials’ failure to respond to repeated incidents of
unjustly imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay by our own repressive
Mexican immigration and the Civil Rights Movement, but given
police harassment, brutality, and extortion. In that act Bouazizi
government, and Santo Toribio Romo, the martyred priest who
the drift towards a corporate totalitarianism that is currently
sparked thousands of souls into social disobedience, ultimately
has become the patron saint for emigrants from Mexico.
underway on these shores, there is a very real sense that we need her here at home right now.
toppling the corrupt Ben Ali administration in January of this
Currier titles her show Seven Miles Per Second, after
year. Over five hundred people attended Bouazizi’s funeral.
the comic book created by the American artist David
Still, she long ago established herself as a citizen of the
His action and subsequent death galvanized youth protests
Wojnarowicz, who died in the first wave of the AIDS epidemic
world, and her excitement about the Arab Spring is palpable
and human rights activists. The people rose up, rioted, and
and was extremely politically active in his art. Tea Party–led
and positive. Her technique has only steadily improved
demanded the autocrat’s immediate resignation. The army
morons in the United States Congress recently succeeded in
over the years, making this her most powerful, mature, and
took the side of the people and allowed Ben Ali to flee to
shutting down a video by the artist that was part of a show
accomplished exhibition thus far. It will probably only be
asylum in Saudi Arabia where he is today.
at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., demonstrating
surpassed by whatever she takes on next.
that repression has long found a home in the United States.
—Jon Carver
Bouazizi’ s action and the example of the successful exiling of a tyrant by the Tunisian people has led to the increased opposition to oppression and poverty under autocratic governments, a number of emulating immolators, massive protests, regime changes in Egypt and Libya, and the granting of concessions by governments throughout the Arab states, making Bouazizi’s act one of desperate, but successful, heroism. Currier’s large-scale portrait of Bouazizi is outstanding, in part because it is the first time she has worked on this scale with pure collage. Her unique approach to image construction has long been to gather litter, trash, and cultural detritus as the basis for her underpainting. Traveling the world, she ships home old suitcases and boxes full of these found materials and incorporates their commercial logos and piecemeal imagery into her compositions in ways clever, poignant, and pointed. She then completes the image with overpainting, allowing her source material to show through to greater and lesser degrees. In the case of the Bouazizi portrait she abandons paint in favor of pure collage, giving the image a raw immediacy appropriate to the subject, making this piece the most powerful in an overwhelmingly strong show. On a formal level, the portrait recalls Italian Renaissance marquetry work of the sort typified by the studiolo of the Duke of Urbino. Marquetry is the practice of composing illusionistic images with thin wood veneers of various tones—a kind of collage painting analogous to Currier’s made exclusively with small, carefully cut pieces of wood. In Currier’s case, the wood is replaced by smatterings of street posters, discarded packaging, and abandoned flyers. Prominent among the trash she redeems to construct her picture of Bouazizi is an advertisement for a festival of early 1970’s Blaxploitation films, linking the Tunisian uprising to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Currier’s consistent subject is the ennobling of the poor and downtrodden and the celebration of those individuals throughout the world who have in one way or another stood up for human rights, liberty, and equality through their brave and uncompromising actions. Her images present an alternative history to that promulgated by the corrupt media systems of our times. In this show, we see the Egyptian youth who took over Tahrir Square earlier this year to bring about an end to the
| octob e r 2011
Erin Currier, Mohamed Bouazizi, mixed media, 60” x 48”, 2011
THE magazine | 45