The Authority Of Death
The Authority Of Death
Eric Fischl, Spencer Finch, Günter Umberg, Helmut Federle, Gabriel De La Mora, James Casebere, Coen Young, Jude Rae, Winston Roeth, Tomislav Nikolic, Bruce Nauman
March 2016
10 Putiki Street
Grey Lynn, Auckland
New Zealand
The title for the exhibtion The Authority of Death comes from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's famous novel Love in the Time of Cholera first published in 1985
The line in the novel describes a character entering a dark room where there was barely enough light to see. But despite this diminished visbility, the atmosphere was such that he could register "the authority of death". This registration depends on a sensate awarness that is felt as much as seen.
What is required to recognize the authority of death? Has the disruption around image and meaning in mass media, become so great that our capacity or indeed desire to see and feel in low light been sacrificed?
The largely unspoken treaty we have with life remains mostly occulded from our consciousness and yet we have never been surrounded by mor egraphic, overlit images of death. We are overloaded and underwhelmed by them at the same momement.
I believe the works in this exhibition resist contemporary cultures insatiable appetite for spectacle, preferring instead to speak quietly to more poetic notions of time and transition, impermanence and loss. In selecting these works I wanted to substitute clamour for whisper, spectacle for modesty.
Andrew Jensen 2015