art

Jess Hirsch: Folk Feng Shui at Nationale

Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water.

I would like to be able to say that my first reaction was sure, it’s the most natural thing in the world. The artist, after all, is always concerned with arrangement…of volume in space, objects on the plane of the canvas or more fundamentally strokes of graphite on paper. But I have to admit that when I heard the title of Jess Hirsch‘s current show, Folk Feng Shui, at Nationale I was skeptical. But what the show promised had me intrigued: Hirsch had made readymade and temporary assemblages of objects from Nationale’s inventory (it’s a little shop in addition to being a gallery) before it moved from it’s 28th and Burnside location to it’s new home at 811 E Burnside and had done the same thing in the new space. When I walked into the gallery and saw the photo documentation in the back of the space of her formal arrangements of found materials sourced from Nationale…some with Hirsch and friend(s) as part of the tableaux, plus the series of drawings based on those photos, but with the “sculpture” and often the human form isolated and floating on a white ground, I was curious to know more about Hirsch’s process. Here’s what Nationale had to say about the show:

Folk Feng Shui [is] an intuitive method of spatial rearrangement dictated by color theory and composition, and executed in multiple sculptural interventions. Folk Feng Shui is a live process of disassembling a space, creating a series of temporary installations within it, and finally energetically reintegrating its objects into a new, functional positioning. … In February 2010, NATIONALE invited Jess Hirsch to apply the process of Folk Feng Shui to the gallery while relocating from 28th & Burnside to 8th & Burnside. Hirsch first reconstituted the energy of the new space on 8thwith past merchandise from the store. An intermediary sculpture intervention followed at the old location as a way to begin transforming the energy within the objects that would move to the new location. A third session was executed after moving to the new location to posit optimal energy for the space.

Last week, Hirsch took a minute to answer some of my questions about this exhibition and her ongoing Folk Feng hui project.

Can you tell me about how this idea of folk feng shui and how it ties into what I’m seeing here?

While the project is based on loosely on principle of feng shui, I am approaching it as an artist. I have a simple understanding of feng shui. Primarily, I am interested in challenging the of value of art and questioning just what is our ability to create value in object? So this is less about the arrangement of the objects and more about tracing the artist’s fingerprint in the process. They objects become a temporary sculpture.

So the notion of feng shui for you is a conceit of the project rather than a belief system. I’m wondering because in the statement for the show it says that Hirsch “reconstituted the energy of the new space …with past merchandise from the store,” that you were “transforming the energy within the objects,” and “posit[ing] optimal energy for the space.”

I’m kind of on the fence about this. I do believe that through touch, energy changes. For example, you know when somebody’s been through your stuff. You can tell. I am not 100% on board with idea that it can vastly improve your wealth or whatever. But I’m interested in playing around with it. Through my work, I’m loosely collecting data, trying to understand this better.

I’m interested in the creation of value, it could be ephemeral value. I’m interested in Duchamp’s idea that the artist’s idea is valuable, not just the final project. I am thinking of Duchamp’s snow shovel hasn’t been altered in any way. How does the artist have this ability to create value in an ordinary object? What is the value of their ideas?

The project is iterative in that it begins with these formal arrangement of objects that you then photograph, and then you do drawings based on the photos. You display the photos and the drawings. If the value for the project for you rests in the touching of the object, why have these layers of work? Why do a drawing?

It is a way to regain authorship of the images. I don’t consider myself a photographer. The photos I am taking are strictly documentary. I like to play with idea that these scenes can become an art object. There’s also a nod to returning to a traditional realm of value in art: the painting, the drawing. I’m most well trained as a drawer so this gives me ownership of a project. By leaving the white space, I make it come from my own perspective.

If the photos are strictly documentary, can you talk about why you chose to use color filters on the photos?

The color filters added to the photos are trying to give authorship to the photos. I didn’t want to show them raw. I wanted to spend time with them, to explore the medium of photo editing a little bit. I wanted to differentiate them from just photographs, to let them be viewed as color studies. So I let color that was outstanding in photo be color filter. I think this enhances the relationship of artmaking to feng shui.

In a number of images, you are in the frame, lying, crouching. If this project is about transforming the object through the artist’s touch, can you explain the presence of the body, your body, in the frame?

Yes. The body becomes part of the object in the sculpture. That’s the reason why I started doing it. With sculpture, the physicality of it, that it exists in three dimensions, I am able to join it, if temporarily. This accentuates, too, that it’s not just a photo, it’s a temporary moment: the body as the artist’s thumbprint in the image. I can be a part of the frame. It increases the intimacy of the session to show everyone how I’m touching these things. It feels sensual and even criminal when I’m touching other people’s objects. And when they’re strangers, I’m interested in how I am reacting to the objects.

Okay, I understand why you are in the image, but there is an image in which you are there with another person sitting on a table.

Yes, it’s her apartment. I like it when people are home. I like to invite them in so they can experience their objects in a new light. I also am interested in creating temporary ritual scenes. I am interested in
ritual and worship.

I should say that the project is really in process. I don’t have all the kinks worked out. I am interested in changing the vantage point of the person who lives in the space I am working it, to let people experience their possessions in a new light.

Often audience is anonymous. I like creating work for a single individual. Being an artist is selfish practice. You work alone in the studio and there is this big block between artist and audience in traditional forms. In this project, I feel more like a service provider. It feels more benevolent. I struggle to justify why I make art when there are other things I could be doing that would have an impact. At the same time I’m not interested in creating social practice for a large group.

I used to clean houses for a living. This ties into the question of whether the role of artist is in serving the upper class? Or is the work for the general public? I am asking, what is my role in society? I feel most comfortable as a service provider, creating an individual experience for one person. I always leave a trace of feng shui process behind, a small sculpture or color scheme, possibly in the closet.

So the sessions you did at Nationale were not the first?

I’ve done 30 sessions since October 2009, mostly in someone’s home. Sometimes I know the person, and sometimes I don’t. Most recently I’ve worked in a house that is about to be foreclosed, which is strange because whatever I do there, the bank is going to end up owning it. There is this whole history of a family there that I get to know through their objects.

Your titles make art historical references. You’ve said that your work engages art traditions via its media. Can you talk about how your titling relates to what you are otherwise describing as a more personal/intimate practice?

I don’t really give the titles very much value. They are really hard for me. I’m trying to make art jokes. I don’t know how it really relates. Placing these ideas in art history…I think art history is ridiculous in some ways, the contentions about minimalist art; critics vicious about degrading certain ideas. I like to play around with such things that people have such strong opinions about, and take them down a notch. And it’s always better to deal with things through humor. These are little art jokes referencing big ideas, an effort to try to put my project into the context of art history. The people I’m referencing are influencing what I’m doing.

I like that the titles can send you on a different path. I want them to be funny or absurd. I’m trying to keep things lighthearted because I think it gives people an entry point.

Another consideration was that I didn’t want to expose the person I was doing work for. When I started, I was putting last names on the website. I am still trying to figure out what is okay. Is it okay to create this nice service for them and blast it all over the internet? Should I keep that more private? I’m still trying to negotiate that.

POSTED: May 19th, 2010 | AUTHOR: admin | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: folk feng shui, jess hirsch, nationale | 2 Comments »

---