First Born

Progenitus (triptych) 2010
gloss enamel & Iriodin® on chromogenic print, mounted on aluminium composite board
3 panels – 178 x 125 cm each

Dur Mater 2009
gloss enamel on chromogenic print, mounted on aluminium composite board
178 x 125 cm

Sarcoplasm 2009
gloss enamel on chromogenic print, mounted on aluminium composite board
178 x 125 cm

Morphogensis 2009
gloss enamel on chromogenic print, mounted on aluminium composite board
178 x 125 cm

Cisterna 2009
gloss enamel on chromogenic print
mounted on aluminium composite board
178 x 125 cm

Prosoma 2010
gloss enamel on chromogenic print, mounted on aluminium composite board
178 x 125 cm

Duad (diptych) 2009
gloss enamel on chromogenic print, mounted on aluminium composite board
2 panels – 178 x 125 cm each

Chromoplast 2010
gloss enamel & Iriodin® on chromogenic print, mounted on aluminium composite board
178 x 125 cm

Studies 2009-10

Beauty, Violence, Sex & Death

Being woken to the conscious state by sound of a rooster, remembering the advise of a fellow artist l began to understand the task that Robert Doble and Simon Strong had given me. These two artists wanted me to write on their collaborative works. I always face this process with trepidation but l found some form of inner confidence on the basis that their images had burnt their way into my memory cells.

For centuries, the human races have harnessed the power of science and religion to improve and prolong their lives in the world. Through human efforts we have been able to clone, engineer plants to resist disease, target cancer cell by destroying them with chemotherapy and radiation, add vitamins to our daily bread and milk and transplant human organs to other bodies. We have a sense of security knowing that such scientistic development is regulated by the medical boards, government and church but what happens when Nature takes over this process?

“First Born”, the collaboration of Robert Doble and Simon Strong deals directly with the pitfalls of scientific advancement, the human condition and the untold faith in the belief that science holds all the answers. They question our sense of morality, sexuality, our definition of beauty in western society and our clinical acceptance of how we alter our bodies and environment in the pursuit of the perfect state. The power in this collaboration not only lies in the graphic representation of a world that has attacked itself but more importantly it is making a direct appeal for our sense of humility and compassion.

Through history artists and writers have explored the social impact and the role religion and science has played in society. Mary Shelly’s book “Frankenstein” written in 1818 is notably one of the most famous novels written as a response to the danger of science medalling with natures order. These thoughts have plagues humanity for as long as we have existed. David Lynch, “The Elephant Man” 1980 and Tod Browning, “Freaks” 1932 showed us how society treated people who they thought were diseased, ugly and or outcast. Doble and Strong’s collaboration bravely confronts these issues head on.

Images of the morphological changes, bodies cocooned in strange growths and mutations, violent smears spattered and explosions of oil paint and varnish that disfigure the flesh are strangely compelling and visually appealing to the eye. The object of desire is no longer the body. The focus now is on our newfound ability to manipulate ourselves and the environment. Self-preservation is no longer the key to survival. Modern scientific advancement has now allows us to engage with the concept of self-modification.

Evolution by conscious design has given us the ability to select and de-select parts of our bodies, but what about our soul? Scientist would like us to believe that the soul is the construct of fiction and religion what is the social impact on mankind? Are the changes irreversible? Has this way of life altered our historical path and affected our equilibrium in nature? Artist such as Doble and Strong have put forward a different point of view, a different way of looking and investing the idea’s surrounding science, nature and beauty. Their ideas are as relevant and important to society, if not more so then what science has achieved because they hold a mirror up to us and push the boundaries of our beliefs. They bravely tell us that souls are bound to the earth. The DNA from all organisms is made up of the same chemical and physical components.

Sarcoplasm 2009 is a traditional front on portrait of a naked female torso. This beautiful lithe body with her plump lips and pert seductive nipples has been invaded by the bacterial growth of oil paint and varnish. The intriguing aspect is – it is not the girl herself that is being invaded but it is like the picture plain is being overcome with the strange bacteria like Petri dish in a scientist’s laboratory. This is where this wonderful cross over occurs with Doble and Strong’s work. The disfiguring of the human form as well as the disfiguring of the material the psychological thing of smearing the paint across the beautiful photographs.

Cisterma 2009 we find a beautiful young girl-sitting upright with her arms bound behind her, alabaster like skin’s akin to classical sculptures we would find atop marble plinths from Ancient Rome. Paint again is applied disfiguring all recognisable facial features. This is a great Bacon/hostile moment of beauty, death, violence, sex all meet on an equal playing field. It’s the horrifying idea that it takes a glimpse of death to obtain our attention……however fleeting.

Duad 2009 the beautiful muscular diptych of athletic male beauty Glistening in the shadows under a dim moonlight. This virile strong “Calvin Klein”esque perception of male beauty is being invaded by these black spots of a cancerous lung. But there is a great contradiction in the sense this image is also a wonderful play on abstraction. Bouncing black balls dance over the surface hinging on the reflective angles of the ripped torsos. Are we drawn to beauty of nature or are we fascination with the morbid? We can only face these problems on an individual level for we can only truly understand where we stand in the material and spiritual world.

Not knowing what the outcome of their collaboration would be Doble and Strong have indirectly achieved an amazing body of works that reflects the current anxieties that exist in our material world. They challenge the way we digest visual media and the monetary value associated with beauty. What these work suggest is that even though we have come to the apex of scientific endeavours and wealth accumulation – ANXIETY STILL DESCENDS.

Amongst the tensions within this series remains an uplifting sentiment that we as human beings are able to rejoice in the beauty of our flaws. Despite the constant reminders of our mortality and the ever-expanding names of cancers and diseases, these works celebrate the agony and the ecstasy of the flesh and blood that is destined to decay.

Jeremy Kibel