Good optical illusions, like those created by Devorah Sperber, create visual distortions which clarify the experience of seeing.
In a 2004 solo exhibition at the McKenzie Fine Art gallery, Sperber recreated Hans Holbein's iconic 1533 painting, 'The Ambassadors', by using thousands of chenille stems stitched into a circular rug. The sculpture initially seems like a drab piece of modernist decoration until Holbein's image, known for its own anamorphic trick, becomes visible in the cylindrical mirror cutting through the rug's centre. This combination of references and effects challenges our expectations concerning the neutral sculptural form and the famous painting itself, enlivening and refreshingly connecting them.
To similar effect, in a 2001 group show at the James Graham and Sons gallery curated by Valerie McKenzie, Sperber presented 'Lie Like a Rug' (2000-2001), 18,000 pen caps pushed into a curving flexible canvas whose Persian rug pattern emerged when the sculpture was seen through a nearby convex mirror. Like the Holbein piece, this sculpture initially disassembles and then convincingly restores the complicated heritage that summons commonplace images into view.
'After The Mona Lisa 4', 2006, by Devorah Sperber, 875 spools of thread, stainless steel ball chain and hanging apparatus, clear acrylic viewing sphere, metal stand, 41"H x 31"W (thread only), variable height up to 133" (with ball chain and hanging apparatus)
For an ongoing series of works, Sperber recreates art-historical and pop-culture masterpieces using spools of thread. A deceptively random arrangement of 875 austere-colored spools of tread reveals itself to be a startling facsimile of the 'Mona Lisa' when viewed through a small sphere designed to replicate the workings of the human eye. Hung upside down, the threads only make sense when the optical instrument inverts them, just as the eye inverts imagery. Similar assortments of colored thread in near-by works reveal replicas of other iconic images from art history, such as Renoir's little flower girl and Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein.
Installation View: "After Renoir," 2006, by Devorah Sperber, 5,024 spools of thread, stainless steel ball chain and hanging apparatus, clear acrylic viewing sphere, metal stand (122" h x 100" w x 72"- 84" d)
Recreating masterpieces using cheap and commonplace household materials could be perceived as jeering at the art historical canon. Or Sperber's use of thread, children's art supplies and marker caps could be interpreted as a feminist claim on canonized paintings whose significance overshadows womens' traditionally more craft-based creative expression. But Sperber's work has broader implications and more universal appeal. Instead of prompting viewers to rethink the pre-eminence of the images that she replicates, Sperber inspires them to simply look anew at these oft-pondered works of art.
In some recent works, Sperber prods viewers to reconsider some less generally revered but also iconic images. In her 2007-08 installation "Transporter: Kirk and Spock Beaming - In," more than 100,000 beads hanging in front of mirror panels form the pixilated life-size figures of Star Trek's Captain and Vulcan Science Officer as they "beamed in" to her March exhibition at New York's Caren Golden Fine Art gallery. In an accompanying work, Dr. McCoy, the Enterprise's doctor, joins them. The exhibition's title, "Mirror Universe," was adopted from a 1967 Star Trek episode in which a broken transporter replaces the crewmembers with their evil doppelgangers.
'Spock 3', 2007, *1,200 spools of thread, stainless-steel ball chain and hanging apparatus, clear acrylic sphere on metal stand (47 x 37.5 x 60 inches)
A parallel confusion of identities within the Babyboomer generation was identified by cultural critic David Brooks in his 2000 book, "Bobos* in Paradise The New Upper Class and How They Got There." As Brooks recounts, "the members of the new information age elite are bourgeois bohemians . . . These highly educated folk have one foot in the bohemian world of creativity and another foot in the realm of worldly success." In ""VW Bus/ Shower Power," Sperber offers this powerful hybrid personality a seemingly practical item that aptly encapsulates their needs and identities. Sperber assembled 60,000 Chartpak colored film flowers on clear vinyl shower curtains to form the pointillistic image of a flower-power VW bus. In a Time Out New York review, Robert Mahoney summed up "VW Bus/ Shower Power" as Sperber's Ken Kesey-style vehicle. "At first," he wrote, "this installation seems like a lovely, luxurious bathroom item. But viewed in a fish-eye mirror mounted on a nearby wall, it becomes a wild, all-over flower-power design worthy of Ken Kesev's bus. Here, Summer of Love freedom becomes more than mere ambience for a nice shampooing."
Below, we discuss Sperber's solo show at Woodstock's Kleinert James Art Center. For "Flash Back," she exhibits her radical chic shower curtain in the town where the emblematic counter-culture music festival was held in the 1969, and where Sperber currently keeps a regular studio space.
"VW Bus/ Shower Power"
Ana Finel Honigman: Why reference Woodstock?
Devorah Sperber: The inspiration for this theme of this exhibition is that it is being mounted in Woodstock New York, which the 1969 concert was named after even though the townspeople would not allow the original concert to be held here. Woodstock still has a strong counter-culture "vibe" mixed in with some current affluence! We lovingly refer to it as the Upper, Upper, Upper West Side.
AFH: So, the town has blended into the perfect, grown-up BabyBoomer paradise?
DS: Yes.
AFH: Why did you decide to move there?
DS: The mountains are beautiful and so many of the people living in Woodstock are artists, writers or musicians.
AFH: Do you think those enclaves of gentle conscientious thought and small-scale grassroots thinking are actually progressive, or are they too isolated and too elite to do much more than sooth their residents' consciences.
DS: While Woodstock has some of those "vibes," its location and residents make it feel very connected to NYC.
AFH: Do you self-identify as a hippy?
DS: While I was too young to be a "true hippy," I identified with the 1960s counter-culture, which is the reason I was attracted to Woodstock 15 years ago.
AFH: Are you disappointed with the '60's generation's transition from hippie to what David Brooks termed the BoBos - bourgeois bohemians?
DS: No. I think it is a natural progression. "If you are young and not liberal you don't have a heart, and if you are old and not conservative, you don't have a head." Not that I am conservative!
AFH: Really, you don't think that the ideals of the 60s have been destroyed or perverted? You just think that the generation matured?
DS: There is a statistic that correlates the average age of a population and the likelihood of political upheaval. So perhaps the average age in the US population being much higher today explains the change in ideals.
AFH: By forcing viewers to question what they are seeing in your work, are you hoping to stimulate questions about the resonance and relevance of 60s' symbols?
DS: Not really. It's more to do with presenting 60s icons in an upbeat manner.
AFH: What attracted you to Star Trek?
DS: The funny thing about Star Trek is that while I have a vague recollection of watching reruns of the original Star Trek series with my father in the 1970s, I was not a "Trekkie." I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation for a while in late 1980s, but I was never a fanatic until 2002, when for a few months, I began scheduling my days so I could watch reruns of Star Trek: TNG shown every afternoon on Spike TV. I remember wondering why I was so intrigued. Eventually I realized that series Star Trek: TNG offered an escape from the tumultuous post 9-11 world by presenting a utopian perspective of humanity at its best. The mission of the TNG Enterprise was exploration and with the exception of the Borg (their defining motto was "resistance is futile"), the crew's confrontations with alien life-forms were mostly based on misunderstandings and cultural differences vs. battles between good and evil.
AFH: I would have thought that the original would be more poignant or relevant right after 9/11. As a sort-of allegory for contemporary political concerns, the original was mostly concerned with "the prime directive," or the edict that there can be no interference with the internal affairs of other civilizations, which was based on the concept of Westphalian sovereignty. I always understood that as a metaphor for Vietnam. What do you think were the real underlining issues being addressed through The Next Generation series?
DS: TNG offered a utopian perspective. Everyone on the ship was living and working in harmony. A significant difference between the original series and TNG was the Captain's personality. Kirk was cocky, authoritarian, and extroverted, while Piccard was an intellectual, diplomatic, and introspective.
AFH: If you don't like Kirk, then why did you choose to recreate "beaming in" for "Transporter: Kirk and Spock Beaming-In"?
DS: I thought it would look very cool and that non- Trekkies would know what it was.
AFH: Have you gotten feedback from actual Trekkies on your work?
DS: Yes. Most of the comments were incredibly positive. I think there were a couple of comments about pricing-- people upset that they couldn't afford to buy a work.
AFH: Are you interested in the whole Trekkie subculture?
DS: Not really. I do find it interesting that people dress up as characters and go to Star Trek conferences all around the world.
AFH: Why use a VW Bus as a symbol of the 60s?
DS: The largest work in 'Devorah Sperber: Flash Back' is 'VW Bus: Shower Power', a life size, 3D rendering of a 1967 VW Bus. This work was inspired by my long-standing fascination with VW buses and my own 1975 VW Bus. The work is constructed from over 60,000 flowers, laser-cut from Chartpak Colored Film, and hand-applied onto clear vinyl shower curtains. When viewed up-close, the translucent flowers on clear vinyl in the foreground fade in and out of recognition as the eyes shift focus from the translucent front panels through to the rear panels on the opposite side of the bus. The end result is an image of a VW Bus that is there yet not there, solid yet transparent, present yet fleeting, not unlike the ideals of the 60s in the minds of many Baby Boomers today.
AFH: Do you feel that the BabyBoomers have generally been ideological failures?
DS: No. Many Baby Boomers continue to be committed to changing the world in a positive way. They have their lives in order and thus can support various causes. In Woodstock, boomers support local causes such as local farmers, rescuing abused animals, reducing greenhouse emissions, keeping art and music part of the public schools, and global causes such as ending the violence in Darfur, Iraq. The list goes on and on.
AFH: Do you mostly get feedback on the techniques you employ, or the specific images you reference?
DS: Mostly, people are amazed at the amount of patience it takes to produce the works and also about how the images are made visible in optical devices.
AFH: What symbols signify your generation for you? And why are you less drawn to representing your generation's concerns or symbols than the generation before you?
DS: Oddly, I can't think of iconic symbols that represent my generation. Maybe the Smiley Face? Not very compelling!
ANA FINEL HONIGMAN is a critic, PhD candidate in art history at Oxford University and Senior London Correspondent for the Saatchi Gallery's online magazine. She is Style.com's Arts correspondent, Arts Editor of Alef, a Berlin correspondent for asmallworld.net and contributes regularly to such publications as Artforum.com, Art in America,TANK, Dazed & Confused, Sleek and British Vogue.
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