RECENT FORGERIES |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Smart Art Press, Nov. 1998 Perceval Press: Recent Forgeries documents Viggo's first solo exhibition. It is an extraordinary look into the mind of an artist whose boundless creative output touches a myriad of media, from photography to painting to poetry to acting. Recent Forgeries includes a CD with music and spoken-word poetry. Introduction by Dennis Hopper. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FACTS AND TIDBITS
CONTENT:
|
Published along with the Viggo's first exhibition at Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
COMMENTS:
EXCERPTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD AT THE FARTHEST OUTPOST MESSAGE BOARD
Meara, posted: Oct 23, 2002
I love Home! It felt like home... I also love the poem that goes with Home, can't remember the name, he read it at the MSB reading. That is so me! (..) Absolutely love it. LOVE the picture Cheating -- I think it is just hysterical. So much to love in that book.
daz, posted: Oct 23, 2002
Recent Forgeries is also my favorite VM book! And I am not sure whether it is because it was my first look at his work, or because I feel it is edgier than is more recent stuff. Regardless, if I really want to become immersed and mesmerized I pick up Recent Forgeries.
My favorite pictures is Cheating as well! I love that photograph! It tickles my fancy in so many ways. I never heard anyone else mention liking it so I thought perhaps I was just being strange! But I have run into a few people who like it as well and it kind of makes me feel better about myself.
Also Home 1990 is perfect. He captured that "mother love" feeling in a single shot! I so know that feeling of wrapping my son in my arms and feeling that warmth that is illuminated on her face in that photo.
Orpheus, posted: Oct 24, 2002
(..)Recent Forgeries seems really personal for me. And it reeks of him having fun while having done the works of art/poetry in there. And it is the book with the canvasses I like -- Mother Memory, Red Minerva, Clinic...
(..)I love the intros as well. They're so well written and very insightful. What's really precious, for me, about Recent Forgeries is that he's so obviously enjoying himself. He's not taking himself seriously... he's playing around. Sometimes the play becomes serious, other times its frolicking about... but it's intense in its enjoyment. Put in a word, it's a younger Viggo, more raw, less mellow.
Orpheus, posted: Nov 02, 2002
(..) The pics of home are the best thing to have happened for my self-esteem re: cleanliness!!! Any time my mum grumbles about the state of my affairs, I can shove that pic in her face!!!
Don't ye all love the cover picture of Mother Memory... I think it's really beautiful...
What's really interesting is to see the same poems/photographs [changing from book to book]... you realise how mutable these works are. And then I wonder whether their meanings have changed as much for Viggo as they have for me when I see them in their new context.
carmen, posted: Nov 02, 2002
I now understand why EM loves Eiffel Tower so much and went through so much to get it. It is awesome. Pure, distilled childhood (human) wonder.
So far I've fallen in love with Sandy Dennis, the photo and poem.
Exene's World is funny... isn't it a riff on Wyeth's Christine's World? Or am I nuts? Or possibly both!!
Ingjerd, posted: Nov 02, 2002
(..) What I find really amusing is the Acknowledgments. He thanks everyone and everything. When I read it I got the impression that he really appreciates life.
Orpheus, posted: Nov 02, 2002
(..)The music is "interesting", isn't it! Not quite the expected thing... to be fair to the man, he does cringe when he's labelled a musician... he prefers to call it something like 'playing around with instruments in a studio'... Has anyone heard I'm Not a Singer? Now, THAT was a scary one!
Orpheus, posted: Jan 07, 2003
(..) Pope's Apology -- for me, it's a bitterly satirical label/name/title. The pope's apology could be for the fact that the crucifix is almost invisible; that the colour of passion (red) has become the color of violence -- because no longer can you see the passion of Christ, rather all you see is a wash of blood. And more emphatically for me, the hazy crucifix is the pope's apology for all the ruination that organised religion has brought about upon the faith, its principles and its philosophy. The corruption, the materialism, all of this is justified by one thing: The crucifix. But its not a symbol of faith anymore; its the pope's apology, his justification for letting things devolve the way they have.
carmen, posted: Feb 08, 2003
(..) I think La Reine is fascinating, how did he do that? It looks like she is RIGHT there up against a window. Does that title mean Queen of the Sun?
The photo of his living room appeals to me too. I find myself thinking of it again & again. I think I see the logic in the "paper carpet" array. If that was me I'd stack all the papers up in a pile and not be able to find anything... his way, it's all right there out in view! Like a giant desktop.
Hellcat, posted: Feb 08, 2003
I love the reading of Cuttings on the CD and Wading too. They just seem more dreamlike, and I swear you can almost hear Viggo saying things almost with a smile in those two poems, (the background music probably helps too).(..)
Hellcat, posted: May 09, 2003
Reading Vig's poetry is definitely an acquired taste. I was quite shocked by the morbid nature of a lot of the poems (Second Opinion, Show, Relay, Wading) at first. The CD is a lot more "User Friendly" and Viggo's voice is very soothing.
sera, posted: Feb 18, 2004
(..)What a dense work. So very dense... I mean in the best way possible. It's not a big book physically but is far-reaching in many other ways. I'm very happy with it!
Oggivist, posted: Mar 26, 2004
I listened to the CD in the dark last night and again while getting ready for work this morning. I made this discovery: He has changed Matinee. On the cd he says "your hair and clothes have turned brown," but when he read it to Diane Sawyer he said gray, and I have read gray online somewhere. So his poem is aging with him. I thought that was cool.
My favorite photo is Henry, 1990 (today at least).
Fav poems: Cuttings, Lunch, Going, Progress, For Sandy Dennis, Cursive, Ten Last Night.
Painting: no clear favorite here. I think because I am so enamored with "chatterbox eyes"-- which I've only seen a couple of times online. But if I had to choose, I'd say I'm leaning toward Confession 51 --but it may be for the words more than the image, which is alluring and disturbing.
Morganna, posted: Mar 26, 2004
My favorite poem is on the CD, 1/2 Red.
I noticed that change in Matinee too, inCoincidence Of Memory the poem is written out and it says "brown" too. The same idea as gray, I suppose, neutral, sort of colorless, but I think of the brown in the poem as the kind of color you get when you mix all the paints in the box together (I'm thinking of those kids boxes of watercolors), like the speaker has merged into so many parts, he's losing himself, or losing track of what is him (it makes sense in my head)(..)
sera, posted: Apr 13, 2004
(..)I bought this book after Coincidence of Memory... I think I like it better, particularly the low-contrast black and whites like Home (1990), To Sea, and School. I also love the way he combines images, scratching through them, like Mother Memory and Red#3, and Clinic.
One of my favourites is Acknowledgements. Kinda unique. A good exercise for anyone to do, I think. The book on the whole is just such a dense (I think I said this before, dense in a good way!), and personal work. The book is small, but at the same time, very heavy for its size. That's fitting.
Hellcat, posted: Apr 14, 2004
Some bits of Recent Forgeries I like some I don't. I think this book contains some of Viggo's more interesting and disturbing work; Second Opinion, Show, Clinic, Pope's Apology. You also have the book (photo, painting, written poetry) and the CD (spoken poetry, and "music"), utterly mixed media. Still not keen on most of the paintings though, e.g. I really don't like Damas. I think Viggo's painting eye has improved a lot since Recent Forgeries (But then I'm biased cos I've seen quite a few of the Sign Language / Coincidence Of Memory pieces.)
Favourite photos from Recent Forgeries:
Double Tap: The two very similar photos of Henry pointing a gun at the camera with a very mean look on his face. I like the way that photos work with the poem cruelty above them. And the idea that this is a mafia hit.
Green #2: The water trapped butterfly. I love the colour of the green water contrasting with the white butterfly. The butterfly looks so fragile and the thought comes to me that it has been trapped, and will remain stuck to the water.
Exene's World and Metro Sections: Again just the moment capture pictures Viggo does so well. I can't really describe why I like these sort of photographs. Something about them makes me feel like I can walk directly into the photo or that somehow he's photographed things that would also catch my eye.
Red #1: Just the colours, scarlet red oil drum, gray tarmac, mint green and white walls and azure blue sky.
Manhattan: (..) This one reminds me of flags in China, and so conjures up good memories. I also like the composition of the diagonal line of flags.
Hellcat, posted: Apr 21, 2004
as listening to Wading and the last four lines
Quote:
I'm thinking of you.
So much gone from memory
that I'm left with
only your teeth
Does anyone else think the reference to teeth is the remainder of a smile? Like the disappearing Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland? Love the music in the background of Wading, it does invoking the feeling of waves on the shoreline
Rain, posted: Apr 21, 2004
(..)I always think of the Cheshire Cat at that line too though I think that the teeth are also perhaps to tie in with the shark mentioned earlier.
Also "left with only your teeth" (teeth being sharp, cutting, etc) makes me think that maybe those are the feelings that the narrator of the poem is left with. Sometimes when something is over all you can remember are the sharp edges of the words you shouted at each other.
Candy, posted: Apr 21, 2004
I love Wading I've heard it a thousand times -- it was the first I EVER heard of Viggo's poetry, downloaded from Travis' page... It's PERFECT... I love the way he reads it, love the eerie noise in the background (any suggestions as to WHAT it is? I have!), love the way he draws his breath between verses. Love the way he hisses the last syllables. Love the grotesqueness of it...
sera, posted: Apr 23, 2004
(..)Wading ...so evocative and sad. The sounds? I think that's Buckethead on the guitar and perhaps some haunting synth echoes? What are your suggestions? "Hissing" the last syllables (..."left w/ just your teeth") sort of seems to me like emotion welling up or he's running out of breath after the audible one drawn before "he's not afraid of me"... the poems ends almost in mid-thought, there is no big accent on the last line, his thoughts are flying up and seem unfinished, although the words are very final.
I really love how he uses vocal emphasis in his poetry in a very understated way. At first it seems like monotony, but his timbre and accenting is actually quite... complex.
Hellcat and Rain: re the Cheshire cat: yes! It also evokes for me a part in the book Life of Pi, which, well, I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but teeth are the last tangible thing that is left of a certain character, just like the cat. Also reminds me of the part in the bad Deception/Ruby Cairo where Andie MacDowell receives Viggo's/Johnny's teeth via air mail. She has all these pictures of him but the only real thing she has left is the teeth.(..)
Read the whole discussion here
POEMS:
You are sweating... 1992 Wadings Clear 1995 Cuttings Second Opinion Cursive Trague el Bagre Otoño Catalán Ten Last Night 1998 Just Coffee Lunch Meet Letter From Nebraska Stones Wet Dog After The Flowerbath Spring Fair Show
The Boy Who Cried Wolf Edit 1992 Relay Independence North Sylvan Road For Sandy Dennis Home That Ear 33 Home For The Holiday Ontario Going Progress Bedtime Story For Henry The Sight Of Cruelty Chaco 1995 Hillside 1994
PAINTINGS:
Mother Memory 1997 Drawing 1966 Sun's Loosing Its Yellow 1998 Red Minerva 1997 Mute 1998 Wall 1997 Matinee 1997 Blue 1 1997 Red 3 1997 Clinic (with an image
by Paula Symonds)1997
Damas 1997 Cul 1998 Armstrong 1998 Loves Of A Blonde 1998 Work 1951 1997 Pope's Apology 1998 Sections 1997 Maria Falconetti 1998 What Have You Heard 1997 La Reine Du Soleil 1998 Confession 51 1997
PHOTOS:
Mom's Present 1997 Home 1998 Called Off 1985 Manhattan 1985 Venice Driveway 1997 1045 1998 Red 6 1998 Gray 1997 Departure 1997 Metro Section 1996 Exene's World 1996 Out Back 1996 Offerings 1996 I Love Olga 1995 Nancy 1996 Matched Pair 1996 Pig Shave 1985 Calf Save 1997 Saxon Morning 1994 Home 1990 At The Forum 1998 Green 3 1998 Red 2 1996 Pool 1998 Mermaids 4 1998 Red 4 1998 Mermaids 5 1998 Mermaids 6 1998 Aftermath 1998 Dunk 1996
Birthday Party 1996 Out Front 1998 Cheating 1998 Resting 1998 Mermaids 3 1997 Mermaids 2 1997 Red 5 1998 Red 1 1995 Green Point News 1997 Painter 1998 Ruth 1997 Sandy Dennis 1985 Memory, East-West 1997 School 1996 From Greenpoint Terminal 1997 Blue 2 1997 Green 2 1998 Memory North-South 1998 Teeth 1998 Double Tap 1998 10:00 A.M. 1998 10:02 a.m. 1998 3 p.m. 1998 Belfast Christmas 1992 To Sea 1993 6:10 P.M. 1995 Jack Kehoe 1995 Anna 1997 Eiffel Tower 1995 Henry 1990
