This title was digitized by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA).
About Contemporary art/southeast. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1977-1980 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1980)
“Businessman,” 1979, a single figure tableau by Duane Hanson of Davie, Florida, might also be con sidered an urban article. As such, it is the representa tion of a certain type of western businessman, per haps an overworked supervisor for a trucking firm warehouse, who sits in an office chair. The figure . communicates a fatigue and reflection. Its intention is not to be a mere clever statue, but to reflect life. “Businessman” is a mirror for a selected type of middle class, white collar, mindless drudgery and reflects what art critic Donald Kuspit has called the American “active/passive worker/consumer way of life.” This businessman exudes dissatisfaction with out hope of correcting it and, thus, seems locked into a personally destructive pattern. How many people viewing “Businessman" will see themselves in the abject figure? In spite of his detailed explicitness, Hanson’s art lies not in the objects he fabricates, but in the questions they raise in the viewer. In the actualism category, actual objects, mostly urban fragments, have been placed in one of the traditional homes of art—a museum. These objects include a portable bus stop, a window with Venetian blinds, and supermarket commodities, among other things. Is this impertinence and anarchy, or are these objects art? Those fearing that the actualist works signal the end of art probably perceive the pieces more seriously than the artists themselves This is not to suggest that the issues raised about art by actualism and related facets of conceptual art are a laughing matter. None theless, a refreshing sense of humor permeates actu alism in this show. One decidedly funny work is “Family Portrait," 1976-79, by Richard C. Viewers find themeslves fac ing a neat arrangement of grocery items simulating a commercial display. The initial visual contact with canned goods is perplexing, but the experience becomes disarming upon realization that the brand names and images correspond to a make-believe fam ily. With “Family Portrait,” the Raleigh, North Carolina artist has produced the most democratic work in the show. Anyone could have done this, but it is the idea preceding execution that is the most impor tant part of any type of art. The preceding works indicate that urban concerns have become a preoccupation for many Southern artists, possibly to the extent that their art is Southern by address only. In the face of an oncoming blight of standardization, technical realists seem neither to welcome nor moralize against such inroads. They simply record what is happening before their eyes because it is part of their environment. The imagery is then transformed as a point of departure into formal concerns, already discussed. The results, however, are open to interpretation. SSSSnEKf Under the Influence," by Michael Rogers, 1978, oil on canvas. 'Sunday in the Park," by Clarence Measelle. 1978. 58" x 42". acrylic on canvas.
