Treading Water

by Emily Seale August 2, 2005

Treading Water is the first single-topic exhibition to be presented at Ballroom Marfa.

Installation shot with Agnes Denes


Curator Fairfax Dorn chose to follow last year’s Optimo show, which was much more lighthearted and upbeat (and curated by Alex Gray), with art that calls attention to a matter of worldwide concern: H2O. Dorn chose four artists whose work makes reference to the cultural role of water, glamorizes the issue through aesthetics. Maria Jose Arjona, Michael Phelan, Sigalit Landau and Agnes Denes have filled the Ballroom galleries with compelling installations, accompanied by a well-researched essay from William L. Fox. Treading Water is accompanied by a Film and Video Program, organized by Cinematexas. (Screenings are scheduled through July.)

Maria Jose Arjona’s performance piece, Body Over Water involves a small wooden slab on the floor laden with folded laundry, a metal pail containing several inches of water, and a metal rod suspended over an oblong metal trough. Soaked and dripping clothes drape heavily over the rod.

Without having seen the performance, the scene is puzzling. On the right wall, a column of writing proceeds from the ground. Numbers of months or years are scrawled in a nearly illegible hand; a black pencil lies on the floor, abandoned. The mysterious totem resembles the measurements made to record a child’s growth, but are random and out of sequence, jumbled and senseless. How this element fits with the rest of the space is uncertain; that we should be interested in dripping laundry is equally dubious.

An outdoor space houses Michael Phelan’s installation, We do not remember days, We remember moments. A large square area is filled with gravel and rocks, among which 16 squiggly-shaped pools are interspersed. A gurgling fountain rises from the center of each readymade plastic pool. Iridescent spheres of two sizes are scattered about the plot, and two more sit complacently beneath a young tree at the far left corner of the courtyard. The contrived yet decorative “garden” brings to mind suburban landscape design; man is yet again interfering with nature, and squandering a scarce commodity in the desert to boot (a la the fountains at Las Vegas’ Bellagio casino, or any golf course west of the Pecos).

Israeli artist Sigalit Landau exhibits two new videos and a sculptural work. The latter piece, entitled Dream Catcher, involves a metal cheese grater encrusted with salt crystals from the Dead Sea. The found object is rusted, and remnants of red string cling to the handle like an abandoned Buddhist bracelet. Water here is seen as powerful and ephemeral; the grater is battered by prolonged submersion in the sea, yet salt is all that remains from the experience.

Michael Phelan... We do not remember days, We remember moments


A video piece, Standing on a Watermelon in the Dead Sea, features the naked Landau doing just that, buoyed by the oversaturated saltwater. The composition conjures Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, standing on her sea shell, yet this scene is far less idealistic. That which supports the artist and her watermelon is also the element making the water undrinkable. Landau’s other video work, DeadSee, depicts a gigantic spiral of watermelons floating on the surface of the Dead Sea. As the spiral slowly unfurls, some of the fruits are cut open to reveal their brilliant red flesh. Coiled within the cornucopia is the artist herself. The scene is intimate and monumental at once—just as Landau’s body is suspended upon the surface of the sea, all humanity is sustained by water.

The largest gallery space contains Agnes Denes’ installation, Pyramids of Conscience. The Hungarian-born artist has long been addressing her enviromental concerns through a variety of media. Four pyramidal forms dominate the space, each standing on a wooden, rectangular base. One is filled with oil. Another holds water brought in from the polluted Rio Grande, just hours away, and the third is filled with regular tap water. The final pyramid is covered in mirrors.

A poem written by Denes in Marfa this year is presented on one wall, and reads as follows: “Fresh water the life giver,
Polluted water the life taker,
Oil a commodity

Sigalit Landau... Standing on a Watermelon in the Dead Sea... Still from video


That mixes not with water
See yourself in the mirror
Find yourself in the barter.”

Denes certainly means well, and the message comes off more as an admonition than a reproach; but it’s probably hard for the locals to absorb her little poem in a region of the country where oil is just as much a life giver as water.

Maria Jose Arjona's performance piece, Body Over Water.


Five framed lithographs complete Denes’ exhibition. Each depicts a pyramidal form, though in contrast to the sturdy shapes that fill the room, these images appear flimsy. Each is covered in a geometric grid, drawn to look two-dimensional and wispy. They flutter across the sheets’ surfaces, as if to challenge the apparent strength of that which is assumed to be lasting and dependable.

The trumping of assumptions is a major accomplishment of Treading Water. These works of art remind us not to take our blessings for granted. Water is ephemeral, just as we are; and the quality of our existence is determined by factors even more basic than financial gain.

Images courtesy Ballroom Marfa.

Emily Seale is a writer that lives in both San Antonio and West Texas.

0 comment

Leave a Comment

Funding generously provided by: