Gabie Strong
Datum, 2008 (installation view)
16 Light Jet photographs, 14.5 x 18" ea.The project
My War (after the 1983 Black Flag record of the same name) is an attempt to reveal the uncanny structure of the naturalization of war in Southern California. By photographing archives, landscapes of military ruins, and in turn poetic, activist, and radical responses to this latent militarism in the Los Angeles region, this work forms a geographic and
indexical trace of imperialism rooted in the banality of the everyday.
The central focus within
My War is the conceptual photographic piece Datum, a series of sixteen photographs of bound periodicals located in the
UC Irvine,
Langson Public Library. These photographs literally depict colorful, burlap bound journals and magazines of US defense industry data reports, counterintelligence statistical manuals, military oversight committee white papers, outsider watchdog group pamphlets, and armed forces handbooks. The sequence of dates represented in
Datum span from the early 70s to the present, signifying a time line of war during eras of supposed peace and conflict. Presented in a linear sequence organized by form, color, and a poetic play with language, these books render a surprising sequential narrative of war throughout the artist's lifetime.
The explicit titles of the books coupled with sequential time signatures suggest that a larger system is in effect,
vis-a-
vis Paul
Virilio's theory of "Pure War"--the continuous and systematic act of war, not only engaging in actual violence but also through organized logistical efforts to control economies, architecture, cities, and the technology we use in our everyday lives.
Installation views of the project -
Left to right:
After Watergate, Vietnam, and the abandonment of other principles (Christopher John Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee, Palos Verdes, CA 1974-1977), 2008
6 color photographs, 8 x 12" ea.Battery (BCN-127, 1942, San Pedro, CA), 2008
Light Jet photograph, 48x 60" ea.What Makes a Man Start Fires? (Minutemen, 1982, San Pedro CA)
Politics of Time (Minutemen, 1984, San Pedro CA)
The Punchline (Minutemen, 1981, San Pedro CA) 2008
3 Light Jet photographs, 30x 30" ea.
In this group show curated by Gabie Strong, the artists selected will be using the gallery David Patton Los Angeles, located at 5006 1/2 York Blvd., as a starship for explorations of time and space. Some might consider the word "landscape" as a proper painterly term to describe some of the work presented in this show, as an analogy for the curious rub between past, present, and future; others will just say, far out!
