David
Szafranski Recent Work, August 11 - September 8 at No. NO. 0 Karen Emenhiser Published: Downtown Dallas News The world gets more absurd by the minute.
If you don't believe me go on down to No. NO. 0 and look
at it thru the analytical eyes of David Szafranski. He
shares the same subject matter as all the controversial
stuff that has got the Congressional panties in a
wad---same exact stuff. Sex and violence. Yawn. But,
where Serrano's Piss
Christ and Mapplethorpe's young flasher exhibit
the effect of a twisted society, Szafranski explores the
cause, a welcome diversion. Sex and violence are dynamite selling
tools---real attention grabbers. Not the reality of sex
and violence, mind you. That would be too disturbing.
The big bucks deal in titilation, something that skims
the surface without ever addressing the deeper currents
it taps into. Sexviolencepoliticsreligion...has
all been thru the rinse cycle and passed thru the
purifying filter of advertising and commercial success.
Clip art books are full of it and war toys top Santa's
shopping list. Any part of the anatomy---suitably
stylized and removed from all emotional context, is
perfectly acceptable. Szafranski has commandeered
several of these most common of images and neatly
regimented them into a roguish examination of
themselves. He combines the elements with a precision
suggesting the authority of a scientific analysis, a
hard edged and well ordered clinical study---but hardly
devoid of a sense of humor. The images are elegantly
grounded in fields of bang caps and dice. Fun and games.
The Cause
of Salesman and the Cause of Skirts are nicely framed in
aluminum gutters, adding a touching suburban note. The
outcome hangs off the walls with a fresh scrubbed
innocuous charm---all the while muttering something
disturbingly lucid about the duality that is our moral
code. I'd give the show a Jesse Helms Annoyance Factor
of 2, were he just to look at it, and a 10 should he
bother to think about it. --- Karen Emenhiser is a freelance art
critic. |