Jason Brickey: Scenorama
accent gallery
november 12 - january 22, 2006
How does one represent a history, or more specifically, construct a represented history? This complex notion is referenced and addressed in the work Scenorama, a multi-component installation that takes as its primary conceptual point of departure the word nostalgia and its original meaning—the fear of separation from one’s homeland. Considering the intense connection individuals may develop to certain environments associated with personal, familial, or cultural history, images or manifestations of a place and the emotions that these inspire can be particularly influential. Over time and through continuous use, specific images or characterizations become well known and highly emblematic, having the power to encompass multiple symbols, stories and histories into a singular depiction. Jason Brickey examines the power of these personal and collective images, combining and re-presenting them to comment on their use, interpretation, and influence.
In constructing both the physical work and its theoretical components, Brickey considers many broad subjects: archetypal American architecture, historic juxtapositions, allusions to American regional sub-cultures, and personal narrative. The challenge in “reading” the work, then, is the navigation of multiple perspectives incorporated into a single installation— how does one differentiate between numerous historical or social contexts and the subjective interpretations or created fictions of the artist? How does the viewer find a personal association or derive meaning from these interpretations? In the end, one is left to examine these characteristics, and ultimately consider how histories are combined, refined, or created.
One convention of modernist historical analysis focuses specifically on the discovery of patterns of the past and subsequently attempts to impartially discern their meanings. This is accomplished by maintaining a dispassionate distance from the subject and attempting to arrive at objective conclusions that are presented as “accurate” or “truthful”. Many argue, however, that a neutral and comprehensive understanding of the past is not possible and does not sufficiently aid in our comprehension of the particular qualities of the present. In a process contrary to the above, the influence and bias of the individual is accounted for, and a more pluralistic perspective is achieved.
In Brickey’s work, the viewer may be confronted with a seemingly impartial understanding or consideration of larger cultural, social or geographical environments through traditional representations. What may not be as immediately conspicuous is Brickey’s understanding of their implications and limitations—this component is highlighted and challenged by his focus on self-referential fictions and layered narratives rather than on predictable depictions. One example of recognizable interpretations or characterizations of the cultural landscape of the Upper Midwest included in Brickey’s work is a derivation of the Hamm’s Brewing Company’s mascot (a cartoon bear), and the sceneroama (a bar-room light fixture with a revolving, idyllic “North Country” landscape).
Choosing to appropriate these images and their associated themes from a well-known regional brewery (and incorporating them into a work presented in a Minnesota city) is a particularly effective method of connecting an audience with identifiable imagery. Within its original commercial context, an advertising agency employed by the Hamm’s Brewing Company attempted to make an immediate and compelling impact by selecting specific images (i.e., beavers beating their tails on a hollow log while a cheerful bear dances about a lake of “sky-blue water”) to communicate a recognizable and desired Midwestern quality. This campaign became more effective than one would imagine—the Hamm’s mascot was named as a runner-up on a list of "150 Influential Minnesotans of the Past 150 Years" in a 2000 issue of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, a newspaper with the second largest readership in Minnesota.
This occurrence underscores the effectiveness and popularity of the chosen images, and becomes one in a multitude of representations that begin to define the culture and activity of a particular region. In purposely choosing these images, Brickey highlights how they become strangely idealized by a broader culture. In a similar fashion of exaggeration, by vastly enlarging an original scenorama image and installing it in the large window bay of the gallery, Brickey utilizes an image that was once relegated to small-scale advertising and monumentalizes the subject matter, making it nearly life-size. This aggrandizement and repurposing of the image not only elevates its status, but also addresses how the artist, growing up in a time when these advertisements were most visible on television and in print, is influenced by his own bias and subjectivity. In this way, the interaction of images, interpreted histories, and personal memory become characteristic of the work as a whole.
In association with the theoretical aspects of the work, the material qualities of the installation also invite the audience to consider their own processes of creating personal memories and cultural associations, with the additional reference to archetypal American architecture in the overall construction. Utilizing basic supplies (wood, paper, fabric) as well as contemporary media (video, sound, photography), Brickey chooses to incorporate numerous physical elements into the work. This, of course, mirrors the layered conceptual references, and what is left is a significant number of components that may initially appear random or disorganized. What is found through careful examination, however, is his proficiency in combining seemingly unrelated narratives to create a space that exists independent from its formative influences--something that embraces yet pushes against its origins--something new altogether.
It is this organization of thoughtful juxtapositions that gives the work greater significance and meaning, and provides the viewer with a composite perspective of the artist’s thoughts, opinions, and emotions. When discussing the work of contemporary artists choosing to employ similar strategies in her text The Contingent Object of Contemporary Art, Martha Buskirk addresses this notion: “…What these disparate examples have in common with one another, and with a large number of contemporary works, is the tremendous specificity of each decision. The fracturing of materials, forms, and effects into increasingly separable elements means that none of these choices can be understood as simply given or customary. These multiple references to artistic traditions and a myriad of other sources remain individually evident even as they are given a new unity in the context of the work that emerges from this process.”1 As such, Brickey challenges the audience to consider the processes used to construct our personal memories and cultural connections.
Jason Brickey received his MFA from the University of Iowa in 1999. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1997 and was a Philip C. Curtis Visiting Artist-in-Residence at Albion College, Michigan in 2001. His work has been shown throughout the United States and Germany. He currently lives and works in Shenandoah, Virginia.
Notes:
1Martha Buskirk, The Contingent Object of Contemporary Art (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003), 158.