Skinny Jeans
Posted by Steffen Böddeker
Produced by the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus Ohio, the website “Pinocchio Is On Fire” accompanies an exhibition of Mark Bradford’s work on view there until 10 October 2010 (and followed by an impressive tour). It is an interesting exhibition website, I think, because it makes me wonder if it is an exhibition website at all. It points less to the exhibition than to its subject: the artist and his work.
The site content is visually organized in two categories, “the studio” and “the art”. The studio section contains four pages that illustrate different concepts relevant to Bradford’s studio practice by looking at specific projects or works in depth. The content is a richly produced, video-heavy mix of windows on Bradford’s process, interests and history, and each page has a very distinct look and feel. The overall tone is dark and layered – a black background and heavy tone speaking to the personal, the interior. The designers and producers make full use of the medium here, and the page about “duality” offers an interactive split-screen shot of the artist speaking over himself – until you drag the dividing bar to the left or right in order to listen to one Bradford versus the other. The section also offers selections from Super-8 films shot back in 1975, revealing the young artist as filmmaker, seen in a private screening room and accompanied by a touching voice-over comparing the artistic process to the arc of human relationships.
In contrast, the art section is sparse and clear. The border changes from black to white, and the individual paintings are “hung” on a white wall. The occasional prop – power sander, broom, ladder – gives a sense of scale but also adds to the feeling of a digitally staged environment. This is not a record of an exhibition; it is a web presentation, an illustration. This does have its advantages (despite the repeating pattern of cracked wall behind the images – a “museum wall wallpaper” made for the occasion): you can jump back and forth between images, and the zoom is so absolute that you can go close enough to see pinholes in a work that is as large as 130 x 196 inches. This ability to see and “read” the surface is crucial in Bradford’s heavily-layered, collaged work. The section comprises eight paintings and one multimedia installation – the “Pinocchio Is On Fire” that gives the website its name. Each work is accompanied by extensive label information, and most have an audio/video clip of the artist speaking about a particularly interesting aspect of the work.
Along the footer are the hard facts: biographical information about the artist, more on his process, exhibition details, and credits. Sadly, the background music stops when you click on these menu items; perhaps it is time to concentrate. But even here, text is accompanied by audio and video tracks that continue Bradford’s autobiographical narrative and tie the whole experience together.From an institutional perspective, the problem lies just there. The site is about artist Bradford, and is a very successful branding exercise as such. However, this comes at the expense of the exhibition itself. The site reveals no sense for curatorial voice - how the work is selected, installed, interpreted, or what its larger context is. The exhibition checklist, which is a separate PDF download, reveals that there are 52 works in the exhibition (of which only nine can be seen on the website). Bradford’s voice and character are the story of the site. Produced by Resource Interactive, the site takes full advantage of his fascinating character, both visually and acoustically. This is very well done, with a marketing mind for excellent photography, video, typesetting and interactive behaviors to support the artwork. Bradford’s own background music adds wonderful rhythm to the site, which fades back comfortably whenever an audio or video feature is played. Be sure to also download the track and listen to it alone to really get into it.
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