PREVIEW ART
images
The picture and the word, an age- old alliance, find mutual ascendancy in the work. of Ken Lurn. Susanna Beaumont muses on this combo question and finds Lum’s diptychs are firmly of the modern day.
Talk about career diversity. Ken l.um was. as he puts it. once in the ‘avant-garde of pesticide research.‘ But that's history. along with living fora year in Paris and studying in New York. Today he's an artist based in Vaneouv er. Admittedly when in the creepy-crawly Control business he part-timed as a sign-painter. but however you cut it. it adds tip to definite diversity.
And this month Ken Lum makes his Scottish debut j with a solo exhibition. Recent ii'or/t. at Stills Gallery. A show that promises to hit. not complete smack in the face stuff. but it's tip-front and loud. It may touch a nerve as well as bring on a smile.
With Lum's piece entitled Who! am I Dorm Here." it's a nerve. A woman. alone. sits slumped in a backstage dressing-room. A towel is draped across the shoulders of her naked body. her hair hangs limp and damp and she gazes into a mirror. She looks miserable. She's caught up in a seedy cabaret act that she wishes she wasn't? She has cocked-up her litres on stage? Who knows? But that's the thing with Lum‘s work. its easy identification. We‘ve been
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Action speaking with words: (above and below) two
there. or“ at least somewhere like it. perhaps post« shower or post~drink orjust in the midst of a lousy day. slumped and blue. thinking 'What the hell lain doing with this thing called life'."
Yet that's not the whole story, That's just the picture. For there is a story, or ruore precisely some words. Ken Lum uses text. written large and bold. parallel to his photographs. to create two-porter pieces. a modern-age diptych. Here. next to our feeling blue and conthsed woman are the words: ‘What am i doing here? What am l doing! llow'd i get into this? What am I doing here'." Wait. have these words shaped the reading of the image orjust hammered home what‘s really going on'.’
It's the image and word combo and it‘s age old. ‘lt's part of a long tradition of artistic practice dating back to illuminated manuscripts.‘ says Lum, and ‘lt has
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situations can emanate a black humour. 1 don't try to ' eliminate it from the work.‘ Well go see for
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at Ken Lum's modern-day dlptycl'is
become in the 20th century ubiquitous its (‘1 its publicity. But it’s not just restricted to advertising. it‘s the whole publicity culture. a fusion of advertisements and information. even say a library card.‘ You bet. this is the boom age of the image. publicity burnph and the membership card, and we buy it. or at least are force-fed it. As to the ‘image‘. Lum feels that it is seldom ‘pure' being modulated by the graphics and text that are often close at hand. "textural and oral language animatcs a great part of our total daily experience. in adding [text]. albeit explicitly. [to the work] it disrupts the reception of the photographic component at the same time augmenting it.‘ ’es. think ofthat ad campaign featuring a couple on the dance floor. then in the taxi and finally the bed. Selling drink? A fashion label? No. on reading the text. it becomes another story — the practice safe sex story.
Lurn bills hirnselfas a populist anist. his work most often set in the urban milieu where he spots a happening drama that keys into current mood. ‘The works generally come out of a real life situation so that text and image are usually thought out eoncurrentiy.‘ says Lum. Lum though is not a candid camera man. He sees, no doubt assesses. and later sets up a shot. The result is a picture with words ofa modem life moment. it may make for a kind of visual and textual eavesdropping on the mundane. but that‘s the stuff of life.
Yet from the banal comes the absurd. often tagging along the humorous. ln Fuck You! You Asshole a man is angry and a text ofexpletives makes sure you know about it. Yet the ‘sock it to you' mood ofthe work seems to cry out parody. seeing someone lose their rag can be funny. Or is there a social comment in there? Very possible when the signage above the man appears to spell out ‘zoo'. ls Lum linking this man‘s frustration with that ofa caged animal. It's
my mind.’ says Lum ofhis work. ‘but street yourself — will it touch a nerve or cause a smile?
Ken Lion: Recent Works is u! Stills Gallery. Edinburgh until Sat I 7 Feb.
The List 12-25 Jan 1996 53