A Country New to Me
A review by Al Fuller
Not to say that I’m extremely picky or anything, but I have to admit that when it comes to thesis shows, I am so utterly critical it’s ridiculous. I know that it’s partially because if a show looks bad, it makes all of us graduate students look bad, and if it’s good, it means the bar has been raised that much higher. As my show goes up directly after his, I went in to Jeremias Paul’s My Invented Country with an even higher standard then normal.
Not being a performance artist, and even having a hard time understanding it in the first place, at first I wasn’t quite sure what to make of these images. They illustrate a much more surreal experience than any I have had with nature myself, and make me wonder what I have been missing all this time. Maybe it is just the fact that I was born and raised here in the States, and nature has always been considered something you had to get around, go over or through to get somewhere else. After coming out of the show, I felt like I had just been on a nature hike somewhere far away that I have never seen before. I also found myself wishing I were able to see what happened before and after the shutter clicked. I could definitely see some video work accompanying this body of work, even if it was not so directly related to the pieces as I mentioned above, but instead showing yet another experience with nature in Jeremias’ surreal style. In many of the images, Jeremias was wearing shorts, which I found to be really distracting. I wish maybe he could have had a loincloth or something a little more primeval that wouldn’t make me think of the mass-produced world I’m more familiar with. I would prefer to stay in his invented nature. The lengths Jeremias goes to for an “experience” take me places I would never dare go, such as floating in a sludge puddle or hanging by his feet from a tree!
A great escape from my reality of being trapped indoors was provided by this exhibition. I look forward to seeing what kind of work he makes next, and want to commend him for producing such a well-done show.
Not to say that I’m extremely picky or anything, but I have to admit that when it comes to thesis shows, I am so utterly critical it’s ridiculous. I know that it’s partially because if a show looks bad, it makes all of us graduate students look bad, and if it’s good, it means the bar has been raised that much higher. As my show goes up directly after his, I went in to Jeremias Paul’s My Invented Country with an even higher standard then normal.
Not being a performance artist, and even having a hard time understanding it in the first place, at first I wasn’t quite sure what to make of these images. They illustrate a much more surreal experience than any I have had with nature myself, and make me wonder what I have been missing all this time. Maybe it is just the fact that I was born and raised here in the States, and nature has always been considered something you had to get around, go over or through to get somewhere else. After coming out of the show, I felt like I had just been on a nature hike somewhere far away that I have never seen before. I also found myself wishing I were able to see what happened before and after the shutter clicked. I could definitely see some video work accompanying this body of work, even if it was not so directly related to the pieces as I mentioned above, but instead showing yet another experience with nature in Jeremias’ surreal style. In many of the images, Jeremias was wearing shorts, which I found to be really distracting. I wish maybe he could have had a loincloth or something a little more primeval that wouldn’t make me think of the mass-produced world I’m more familiar with. I would prefer to stay in his invented nature. The lengths Jeremias goes to for an “experience” take me places I would never dare go, such as floating in a sludge puddle or hanging by his feet from a tree!
A great escape from my reality of being trapped indoors was provided by this exhibition. I look forward to seeing what kind of work he makes next, and want to commend him for producing such a well-done show.
posted by J at
6:17 PM
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