Julia Mandle and Gayle Wells Mandle
September 1, 2011 Back to News
In this intriguing show of paintings, sculpture, photography, and works on paper, titled "GAME," American artists Julia Mandle, living in Holland, and her daughter, Gayle Wells Mandle, in Qatar, looked at contemporary political struggles in the Middle East with jaundiced eyes.
Gayle's installation "HyperMarket" (2010-11) consisted of a grid of 38 paintings, showing the likes of dead fish, blurred script, and black-and-white abstractions; it addresses a scattered, incoherent world. There's a primitively drawn representaion of cats against a bright yellow background, a painting of two black pistols facing each other, and a painting of stacks of books on how to play games. Another square shows a half-finished canvas with jars of paint, a partly opened pastel-colored door, and graffiti on the surrounding wall. These seemingly unrelated yet visually connected elements speak of confusion and irresolution.
Julia's multimedia installation, "Lamiya's Last Game," was inspired by a 2003 photograph of a young Iraqi girl whose body was being prepared for burial. Using piñatas as an overriding symbol, she created a group of works commenting on the horrors of war. Lulu Plays (2011), a photo of a young girl blindfolded the way she'd be when striking a piñata, is followed by I Play/I Strike (2011), showing a youth swinging a barbed stick like a baseball bat. The sculpture Dog in Baghdad (2011) features pink and orange candylike balls spilling from the interior of a black fabric "dog," as if it were pouring out its guts. Finally "Cluster Bomblet" (2011) includes three little bombs made of sugar, one in the shape of a skull, the others round with spikes.
Both artists succeeded in making art that we want to look at no mater how disturbing the subject matter.
Gayle's installation "HyperMarket" (2010-11) consisted of a grid of 38 paintings, showing the likes of dead fish, blurred script, and black-and-white abstractions; it addresses a scattered, incoherent world. There's a primitively drawn representaion of cats against a bright yellow background, a painting of two black pistols facing each other, and a painting of stacks of books on how to play games. Another square shows a half-finished canvas with jars of paint, a partly opened pastel-colored door, and graffiti on the surrounding wall. These seemingly unrelated yet visually connected elements speak of confusion and irresolution.
Julia's multimedia installation, "Lamiya's Last Game," was inspired by a 2003 photograph of a young Iraqi girl whose body was being prepared for burial. Using piñatas as an overriding symbol, she created a group of works commenting on the horrors of war. Lulu Plays (2011), a photo of a young girl blindfolded the way she'd be when striking a piñata, is followed by I Play/I Strike (2011), showing a youth swinging a barbed stick like a baseball bat. The sculpture Dog in Baghdad (2011) features pink and orange candylike balls spilling from the interior of a black fabric "dog," as if it were pouring out its guts. Finally "Cluster Bomblet" (2011) includes three little bombs made of sugar, one in the shape of a skull, the others round with spikes.
Both artists succeeded in making art that we want to look at no mater how disturbing the subject matter.
