You inherited that from your father! We dance our name
Mike Bourscheid
GALLERY 295
April 15 – May 28, 2016
Where lies the relationship between photography, performance, and object?
In Mike Bourscheid’s solo exhibition, You inherited that from your father! We dance our name, Gallery 295 becomes the site for a large-scale sculpture surrounded with three photographs of the artist dressed as a ballet dancer. The sculpture, a large slanted glass object, has plush phallic objects of varying hues of skin-tone intersecting it, and Bourscheid’s self-portraits with these objects act as stand-ins for a performance and performer in place of the artist. Within the gallery setting, the artist sets a stage for a correspondence between cultural history, masculinity, fables, and the performed body. In this installation, the conversation between these works sets the stage for a candid arrangement of circumstances, all of which are emphasized by the Bourscheid’s choreographed poses for the camera.
The flesh tones of the phallic, stuffed objects are mirrored in the photographic mount, where the analogue are bordered by lace in hues of brown and pink, while their installation against the wall, mirrors the lean of Bourscheid’s large sculpture. This arrangement further re-emphasizes the blurred distinction between the ability of photography to stand in place of the performance itself, and the reliance of an observer. The resulting images trigger the shutter release by the weight of his body; the photographic space bleeds into the sculptural installation and allows for a permeation of a performed body.
Exhibition text by Patryk Stasieczek, co-curated with Mike Love in conjunction with Capture Photography Festival.