Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Annette Messager.

Annette Message works with everyday materials such as plush toys, stuffed animals and fabrics. She likes using the stuffed animals because she says that they are genderless and flexible. Her works represent the universality in society which comes from her personal interest and experiences rather than focusing on specific people, cultures, race, nationality or gender. From her small figures to her bug computer operated installations there is always a common "playfulness" no matter what the size is. It could play a role of game, word plays, imaginary tales no matter what her work will never bore you.


Remains - She likes to tell stories especially children stories and this installation is based on childhood toys and stories that she has collected through the last four decades. There is a wave of material that takes over the wall, there are pieces of colored wool hanging down from the wall with clothes and objects that become the decoration. The landscapes of the plastic and synthetic fur are dominating the stuffed animals. This is an icon of French Art. 
The Secret Room of the Collector - She really played with issues of identity and the secret room is a small section of the gallery which people cannot enter. It is full of diary notes, images cut from magazines, terms for women that are embroidered on fabric, black and white photos that are showing barbaric forms of beauty treatment. There are also displays of her "best" signatures written over and over again when she was a little school girl practicing her name in the back of the text book. 
Them and Us, Us and Them- The red billowing, illuminated silk creates a lost world. The sparrows in knitted capes and bonnets, you find yourself in a fantasy world which swings between nostalgic, funny and nightmarish. In this one you can tell she likes cliches and our entire society is lost in fairy tales. You can tell that she has been interested in them just by her work and the fairy tales are open of the the subject points of her work.

Conclusion - I enjoy that she uses objects from everyday life because it allows her work to freely move between coexistence of opposing ideas like humor and fear, pure and vicious or reality and imagination. They all seem to give off an impression of a pure yet fragile work. I also like her work because the unique "playfulness" or humor that she uses is one of the main reasons why she is very popular to people of all ages and genders. I feel that there are only question and no answers and that is what makes the work engaging.

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