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| Likes everything that is good Santa Mičule, art critic Review of Ivars Drulle's exhibition You'll be Pardoned Forthwith, Gallery Alma, 22.11.2013.–24.01.2014. | |
| In his latest solo exhibition ivars drulle has remained faithful to the range of themes by which his art is usually characterised: an interest in the underwater hazards and paradoxes of society, unusual events and characters. “narrative sculpture“ is the designation often applied to his works, as the miniature forms remind us of something like animation stills or a theatrical mise-en-scène. the ability to find precise, visually impressive modes of narrative has made drulle one of the more sharp-witted latvian artists, bringing also nominations for the Purvītis Prize – including one for this exhibition You’ll be Pardoned forthwith. If compared to his earlier works that have become widely renowned (The Temptation of Riga Councillor Šmits, The Trial of Herberts Cukurs, Magda Magda Goebbels and Her Six Children. The last evening, 2009–2011), drulle’s narrative sculpture approach in his current exhibition You’ll be Pardoned forthwith shows signs of a distancing from figuralism and resorting more to verbal narrative: this time, the verbal dominates over the plastic forms. one of the main accents of the exhibition is the format of displaying these stories, which is at the same time a powerful metaphor for the leitmotif of the exhibition. drulle‘s exhibits are often reminiscent of toys and this time also the viewer is made to feel a bit like a child who has to keep opening tiny doors and curtains to see the exhibition. | |
 Ivars Drulle. View from the exhibition You’ll be Pardoned forthwith. 2013 Publicity photo Courtesy of the artist and Alma Gallery | |
| Hidden behind the doors and curtains is something that the author has named “present-day folklore“ – lonely hearts advertisements, pictures of apartments for sale, videos of the gatherings of religious sects etc. together they paint a not-so-flattering portrait of society, where human yearnings for the beautiful and the good have led to a comical and grotesque result. at the same time, the viewer is put into the slightly comical position of being a kind of peeping tom: by devising objects in shapes that irresistibly compel us to open and “flash“ them, drulle ironises about the human urge (or instinct) to sneak a look into other people‘s lives. In the feelings stirred up on viewing the exhibition and the dainas (folksong) of the author’s selection, it is difficult to define the boundary between amusement and contempt. the advert texts abound in clumsy grammar and crude language, explicit specifications of the parameters of the object sought (down to years and centimetres), an obsession with “the scrawny” and “sagging breasts” and similar fantasies that do not fit within the usual good behaviour and rules of dating. it is hard to imagine these characters as people actually living beside us in reality; their writings inspire both pity and a slight sense of superiority – it is not possible to identify with the authors of the ads and the people in the videos because they are being presented as weirdoes without any other human features. Peculiarities have always attracted public interest at all times and in all their manifestations, and taking pleasure in them is fairly a widespread psychological technique that makes one feel normal and up to standard. The cabinet of folksongs devised by drulle is also in fact an object of mass therapy that offers the opportunity to be horrified about other peoples’ gaucheness and to remind ourselves about how good and correct we are. the most difficult thing about the exhibition You’ll be Pardoned forthwith was to accept the artificially constructed separation of ‘us’ and ‘them’ – in previous works drulle’s characters or their real life prototypes were easier to classify, and caricaturing them seemed justified. this time around it is not clear to what extent the exhibition is about ‘us’ (because who doesn’t strive towards some kind of ideal) and about the mythical ‘them’ who dwell on the pages of personal ads. The artist’s interest in the marginal phenomena of society raises associations with the works of the classic 20th century art photographer, diane arbus, in which she captured outwardly colourful, albeit falling short of the average standards in society, even outcast, characters. the art of both drulle and arbus is largely characterised by an anthropological perspective, though in the case of arbus a much stronger solidarity between the author and the misfits she photographed can be perceived. Notwithstanding the photographer’s high social standing and genteel origins, for arbus the outcasts of society appeared to be closer than “the rich and the beautiful”. one more artistic analogy sparked off by You’ll be Pardoned forthwith refers to Madonnas of Riga, an exhibition by kristiāns brekte and ieva kalniņa on show at the alma gallery in late 2010. instead of amusement and provocation, the authors opted for an approach based in a desire to understand the madonnas’ lives, and to break the age-old stereotypes about their dissolute lives and personalities. On thinking about the contents of the cabinet of folksongs, one gets the impression that, for drulle, deviations from the norm are more like entertaining material to share with others – a bit like we share internet jokes and laughs on a daily basis in social networks. the information age is especially rewarding in this respect, allowing us to exhibit urges and character traits that previously had been carefully hidden behind lock and key. In the other room at the alma gallery there was on display various design drawings of sacral reception and communication equipment that seemed, at first sight, a positive counterweight offered by the artist to the vulgarities of the folksong cabinet. however, on closer examination, technical drawings of sacral geometry turn out to be as ironic and absurd as the dating advert texts. the methods of communication represented in both rooms are motivated by a desire for something lofty and out of the ordinary, and in drulle’s execution they are both doomed to failure. The way in which drulle has resolved the relations between the visual and the textual in the displayed objects is the most fascinating part of the exhibition, deserving something more than a nomination for a prestigious visual art award. as mentioned at the start, the verbal narrative in the exhibition tends to dominate over visual form, though the form has not been reduced to being in second place, rather it has been subordinated to function for a reason: to make the viewers take a penetrating look into society’s darkest drives, and by the use of mechanisms of opening and closing, to turn this voyeuristic procedure into a somewhat theatrical ritual. On the whole, the harmony between contents and technical execution of the works seems close to perfection – both excellently complementing each other, precluding self-contained details or those difficult to understand, as is often encountered in works of similar orientation. mechanical constructions, technical drawings and geometry contrast with the passionate advertisements of yearning for love and ecstatic preachings of the word of god. The rational motifs of constructivism communicate a search for some broader, better defined and more orderly world, for meaning. if it is possible to interpret an interest in weirdo adverts as the artist’s struggle against boredom and monotony, then the elaborate constructions of the shutters seem like a therapeutic remedy against the self-complacent, meaningless and trivial, both in life as in art. In one of the ads, an anonymous 73-year old-male says that he “likes everything that is good”. to my mind, one of the most important aspects that drulle’s exhibition leads us to think about is society’s understanding of just what is meant by “everything that is good”. to accept the pleasant as the correct is a very comfortable strategy for psychological survival; however, at the same time it degrades the ability to find one’s bearings within systems of values. in his exhibition You’ll be Pardoned forthwith drulle ironizes about human weakness and low expectations as regards the pleasures and fulfilment that life can bring. indeed, it is easy to lose one’s way between irony and cynicism – every artist is part of the same society at which he targets his criticism. The exhibition in gallery alma also indicates a peculiar change in the artist’s role in contemporary art. drulle is not a toulouse-lautrec type of artist who identifies himself with the marginalised and alienated part of society, indulging in bohemian delights in order to escape from the monotony of life. drulle represents the rational, successful and self-confident type of artist who, through his art, attempts to ironically point to the ordinary person’s passions and to rise above them, rather than showing compassion. Translator into English: Sarmīte Lietuviete | |
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