Blending in
My interest in camouflage began with reworked GAP advertisements. The uniform-like quality of the clothing and impassive, frontal presentation of the models suggested that they be revealed as soldiers. Using the clothing colors as a guide, the environments became the camouflage pattern, the process a literal blending in, which brought up themes of conformity and loss of self.
This work lead to a more formal fascination with camouflage in general: its limited palette, variety of pattern, simplicity or complexity. Also compelling were the sometimes odd strategies toward achieving invisibility, such as dazzle painting, which disguises or hides an object’s true direction or intention by breaking up its outline, making a familiar shape unrecognizable.
The chorus girl figures reference wartime entertainment and the pinup girls (nose art) that adorned warplanes. They are soldiers of another kind –physically trained, marching, machine-like women. They are also in uniform, and are uniform in their repitition, erasing unique traits and personality, easily replaceable.They mimic war excericises and wear war as a costume, making light of and distracting from it’s reality and weight.
Standing out
In addition to considering war and spectacle, I think the work is also less consciously a response to living in New York City. There can be an ambivalence between the desire to blend in, both for emotional and physical security, and a desire to be noticed and stand out as unique in the crowd. Camouflage allows for play between these conflicting impulses. Blending in or not depends entirely on the environment. A camouflage suit that blends in the woods will stand out garishly in the subway, but in an urban environment military camouflage is meant to stand out, intending to impress or deter, rather than allowing the wearer to hunt or hide. |