ARTISTS
KEN FANDELL
SELECTED PRESS
Ken Fandell at Bodybuilder & Sportsman Gallery, Art in America, 2006
Ken Fandell is either a Romantic Conceptualist or a Conceptual Romantic. His seven-part video series "The Planets" is inspired by Gustav Hoist's prodigious orchestral composition of the same title. However, Fandell is less interested in the theosophical tenets adhered to by Hoist than he is in reaching truths beyond experience, particularly how the most ordinary human acts and gestures connect to notions of the sublime.
Each of the seven sections catches a seemingly insignificant moment in the artist's life (moments either lived or observed), while also representing one of the movements that make up Hoist's popular suite. For instance, the opening sequence, depicting a woman's well-shod foot nervously twitching back and forth, takes on monumental importance when accompanied by Mars, The Bringer of War. The anxiety established here is offset in the next video, An Appeal to Converge in the Year 2005 (set to the serene Venus, The Bringer of Peace), where an ambiguous figure waves and points to the sky.
Fandell's imagery is spare, as is his camera work, primarily static shots of single scenes. This creates a sense of tedium in certain segments, particularly those played in real time, and sometimes places the burden of content on the scores. The more interesting works are those where the action or time is altered in some way, as in Being Driven Somewhere Early in the Year 2003 (Mercury, The Winged Messenger), a close-up study, shot upside down, of a young woman driving a car. In Past Time, Plodding and Patience in the Year 2004 (Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity), a group of men playing soccer is shown in reverse sequence, shifting attention from the mechanics of sport to the awkward dance of male bonding rituals. Such alterations add an odd, otherworldly dimension to these otherwise banal mise-en-scenes, creating alternative realities intended to dislocate the viewer."The Planets" culminates with Sitting on My Porch as the Sun Goes Down in the Year 2000 (Neptune, The Mystic), a portrait of the artist watching a sunset. Presented in fast motion, various gestures of contemplation and anticipation (a scratch, a yawn) appear almost comical, contrasting with the dark, mystical mood of the piece that complements Hoist's celestial harmonies. This segment is actually the first of the series and was previously shown separately, before the artist created the subsequent installments. Exhibited together for the first time, these videos are absorbing. Fandell has created, while not a magnum opus, a unified narrative that advances his individual studies of the metaphysical.
Susan Snodgrass