presents: LEARNING SIGNLANGUAGEA report from the exhibitionHow to introduce this report? Writing two years after I went to see the exhibition, it is difficult to recall my feelings at the time. I went to see Viggo's work for myself, because you can't get a true impression of a painting from a book. To see if I honestly and truly liked Viggo's artwork, or whether my interest his art was just an extension of my interest in Viggo. You can guess the answer to that question! There are pieces in that exhibition that still excite my imagination. Photos that captured moments, the subtle unseen things like a dead bird fallen onto a log. Photos that capture the intimacy of a relationship with a friend, or son. The endless layers of one of Viggo's paintings, finding multiple meanings in brightly coloured circles or fragments of text on canvas. How different the paintings look in real life, there's a lot of texture (Kormak in New York and Elendil) that doesn't come across in the pictures in the Signlanguage book. The colours are much more vivid and iridescent especially in Elendil and Entierro. The uppermost circle in Volsung appears purple/black in the book's picture but when you see it in real life, you realise that it's a combination of iridescent dark green and purple. Some paintings seem finished but the reworks After Darkly Noon, Involves Some Nudity and Weeping and OH seem more like points in a creative process, as though the piece could go on evolving and changing. Mixed media is definitely a good word for them. Not just because the way Viggo works objects and bits of other photos into his paintings but because of the way nearly all of them have to be read as well as looked at, communicating through language as well as through images. The Signlanguage paintings seem much more relaxed and confident than the Recent Forgeries pieces. Compare Gulf Stream with Clinic. I wonder how much of that comes from the fact that the some Recent Forgeries pieces were created while was playing David Shaw in A Perfect Murder, and so they might be influenced by how Viggo perceived that character. However, I definitely prefer the Signlanguage paintings, Viggo's style has developed a lot more. The work is more fluid; photographs, drawings and text merge without any obvious design, which makes them more intriguing. So many of the photos are moment captures, the Te Anau ones especially. I like the way Viggo draws the focus of to one side e.g. Mikkel where the focus is on the plant and not the boy. It makes you notice the unexpected, like the fish in Signlanguage. Pilar and Viggo obviously worked very hard on the placement of the work. Like putting Paradise above Lost #1, #2, #4, and #5 gives the Lost sequence an air of stillness and tranquillity. And putting Studio with Cocktail Corner, the same pink colour but in two completely different circumstances. Some specific pieces:Entierro -- Studied this one too hard in Gallery and didn't really "get" it. The texture is amazing. I think the text at the bottom reads "INNOCENT. Otherness is not righteousness NOT ALWAYS" My first interpretation was that this is the Mines of Moria from The Fellowship of the Ring. The diamond in the centre is the gate into the mines, the trees are those that used to stand outside the gate and the serpent spewing flaming the top left is the Balrog or The Watcher In The Water. This idea also fits the title (the approximate translation from the Spanish is burial); with Moria containing both buried treasure and being a tomb. Not sure if this is anyway near the "truth" the piece seems more generally about grief. There is an air of futility about the Entierro as though it's trying to be more forceful and more painful. It seems want to let all the painful emotions flow through it and it almost, but not quite, gets there. I really wonder why the word LOBSTER is written on there???? Kissinger Dream -- The painting is a vortex dark but studded with tiny points of light, I wonder if the vortex is the dream and looking at the painting you are being sucked into it. Kormak in New York -- OK, now I get the New York bit of the title, Top left is a very small back and white photocopy worked into the picture "view from the Empire State building looking North" and just below and to the right is written in pencil "11th Sept. 2001". Is there a face drawn in that pale pink square? 7th November -- Despite the slightly gruesome subject matter, a decaying animal, I admit I really felt quite dispassionate about this piece. I think this is because I knew it was going to be there and was too prepared for the shock value. I found myself studying the colours, the green blades of grass and the way the light caught the red of the donkey's flesh remaining on the rib cage. The death of the donkey is so far away, so much in the past that I felt a sense of quiet melancholy not grief. Lost Series -- I love these photos, especially Lost #2, that picture reminds me of the psychological test where they ask you to imagine you are in a comfortable white room with no way out (this is supposed to be how you feel about being dead.) Lost #2 has the same flickering between tranquil and disturbing feelings. I just love the idea that pictures taken accidentally could work so well. Arwen (who I went to see the exhibition with) said that they reminded her of Japanese prints or fossils. The Chetwood series is another set I love. You can almost smell the damp leaves underfoot and feel the forest around you. Viggo just managed to capture the atmosphere of the forest so well, it's almost as if you could walk into the pictures. Reading G Richter -- The problem with this one is that it is difficult to read. What I could see of the writing looked really interesting but I couldn't read much. A few phrases stood out "SHOOT CREATE NEW", "I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY" and "BUT UNFORTUNTATLEY YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE LONG WAY ROUND EVERYTIME. PUT IN THE WHOLE EFFORT", this third phrase seems to be connected with the process of painting, (can't remember why I thought that but I did). Celt -- Just the expression on Henry's face like he's saying "Dad are you taking ANOTHER photo of me AGAIN." The same with Time Out, that photo is definitely a snowball fight and Viggo's going to get a well-aimed snowball in the face shortly. Signlanguage -- I'm sure you could find 1001 interpretations for this piece. It's interesting that because you can't see the boy's face you don't know where he's looking, you imagine the boy is looking at the dead fish, if only because your eye is drawn that way. There's a feeling of time standing still in this photograph (partly due to its size in the gallery), a moment of realisation or decision, as if a philosophical insight has just come to light. My interpretation of this one is that this is the first sign, to the very young boy, of endings. The beginning of realisation of his own mortality. The title also makes me think of non-verbal forms of communication, though images and body language. Involves Some Nudity and Weeping -- Probably my favourite piece from the first time I saw the exhibition. Sunshine on a Pale Wall, with and extra layer of green paint and text from the introduction to Signlanguage. Not Viggo's words but he obviously took them to heart if he worked them into one of his paintings. Since I spent about 15 minutes scribbling down the text (before Pilar told me it was in the book) I shall subject you to it. It will save anyone trying to find it in the introduction. (I'll try and put the capitalisation where Viggo did and apologies for any misquotes.) This is what I read:
At this point Viggo ran out of canvas. I just love that paragraph, since the idea that a large part of our character / sprit is the sum of our experiences (and how we deal with those experiences) is one I believe in quite strongly. The title also seems to me to be a reflection of the things we go though in life, bearing our soul to others and showing our emotions. Element of Surprise -- I just like this one because it's another unexpected moment photo. I love the way the stream bed frames the mountains in the background. Elendil -- Oh, I love the colours and textures in this one, much more colourful than I'd remembered it. The background colours are joyous and relaxed but the foreground is much most intense, there is a feeling of movement and action the iridescent "thing" in ridges going from the bottom vertically upwards moving through a fan shape and onwards connected to the red circle. I agree with whoever said that the picture of the Titanic represents Elendil coming over the sea to Middle Earth. I wonder if the ridge thing is supposed to be waves on a beach and the red circle the battle with Sauron where Elendil lost his life. Either that or the ridges are the shard of Narsil coming down to cut the ring (the red circle) off Sauron's hand. Definitely one of my favourite pieces. Later, Red -- Good photo but Viggo really needs some sleep. He looks a combination of exhausted and hunted. Very powerful, especially the way he's looking directly into the camera. Westerly -- The opposite of Later. I like the way they work together, Later above Westerly. This picture is just utterly tranquil, the beginning of twilight, waves on the beach, the intent expression on Henry's face (it looks like he's listening to someone). I love the blue of the sky and the mist settling on the land. Helm's Deep -- This photo really works so well on such a large scale. The blurring of the picture always makes it look exhausted to me. I remember what Viggo said about that shoot being three months of night fighting. I see it as someone grasping their elbows with their hands (rotated by 90 degrees). The way the hand is held in tension. It's the exhaustion of the warrior, back from battle tired, aching and knowing that all too soon the will have to pick up a sword again, not wanting to, but with the understanding that the fight is a necessary one. Te Anau #2 and #5. -- Hobbits!!! I love the expressions on Elijah's and Dom's faces. Dom especially has that cheeky Hobbit look so recognisable from the films. Feel sorry for the poor Hobbit feet as well (Subject). Leaving Christchurch -- Must have spent a good few minutes grinning at this one like a lunatic. Viggo just managed to capture my Wanderlust instantly in a photo. It's all the reasons I enjoy travelling, the sense of journey, both physically moving through the country and mentally as you find out more about yourself. The unexpected moments that become treasured memories, the freedom to be yourself without restrictions. I love the way you can almost see the colours, intense sky blue, the dark green of the trees and the paler green of the grass. Sometimes a Cheese Sandwich -- Just such a happy piece. Lots of brightly coloured circles. Viggo seems to like circles and trees. I can just imagine a really hungry Viggo sitting in front of the painting and (you know how much better food tastes when you're starving) eating the sandwich, adding the quote and then just looking at the painting and going 'Yes, that works'. Self Portrait, April -- Very Interesting because it's not a self-portrait of what Viggo looks like, but a self-portrait of what he creates. There's fragment of instructions on how to use paint, his lips (speaking through acting or poetry). The boy he was but is no longer. The drawing of the hand reminds me almost of the Leonardo Da Vinci sketch "Vitruvian Man". Viggo's also been at the nail varnish again; there are purple blobs of the stuff dipped across the painting. It's like Viggo's saying know me by what I do/make/create (the word I would use here is the French word faire which means all three), not my physical appearance, that is incidental. The same is also true of the photo Self Portrait - Winter where you cannot see Viggo only his camera; it's the fact that he's a photographer that's important, not the face behind the camera. Where we met --Not particularly interested in this as a photo, but the title intrigues me. I can't help asking who is "we"? Intrusion #9 -- This photo made me laugh, just the cables in the mud. Done that sort of thing myself trying to light a concert outside, we were trying to make the algae in the pond appear solid under UV light, just to see who would attempt to walk on the pond. OH -- In this painting you can almost see its history, how it was built up, layer upon layer. I love that fact that so much of Viggo's work is like this, a stream of thought rather than a fixed moment, it means that you can just play with the details of each piece. I like the way there's the paragraph about NOT re-working a finished piece written on the canvas, and then Viggo has re-worked it and added the paragraph about "to travel hopefully" though he changed his mind about needing to finish his work and is happy for it to go on being a journey. Gulf Stream - Again one of my favourites. I just looked at it and thought Viggo must have been utterly relaxed and happy sate of mind to paint this piece. It just drifts past, the gentleness of the green colour, the nostalgic poems Wading and Progress both in English and Spanish. It made me smile contently. I can't really think of much more to say, apart from a quote for lady wandering round the gallery; 'Seeing all this stuff makes me want to get out my camera and shoot again'. What a lovely thing that someone can provide inspiration like that. Text by Hellcat / The
Farthest Outpost Thank you, Hellcat!
|