E D I TO R ’ S L E T T E R
b y An d re a Bl a nch
Chaos has become an unavoidable element that has
explores the interdependence in the universe through
always been present in our lives. I now have to worry
chaos. Gideon Mendel explores chaos in its most natural
about women’s pussies being grabbed, the presidential
element of water by photographing floods in his series
election, the “deplorables”, Kardashian security, our
Drowning World. His images are structured portraits
country, Musée, my cats Shait and Adjo, climate change,
juxtaposed against the disarray of one of the most
the art world, Syrian refugees, my nephew’s wedding,
devastating environmental catastrophes.
Shahid & Co. (Sam & Matt), sex trafficking, my social
Fred Tomaselli’s The Times is a series of collages that
life, and robots. What does this mean for humanity’s
bring a subjective and disorderly universe to life in a
relationship with it?
medium proclaimed to be objective- the newspaper.
How do we respond to chaos? In this issue of Musée,
However, Tomaselli plays with the politically charged
eighteen featured artists explore the ir relationships with
ideas of ‘true impartiality’ that the media often sports
chaos - examining its personal, societal, and environmental
by prompting the viewer to wonder if his escapist
implications. They take on the seemingly impossible task:
imagery is any more subjective than an issue of The New
making shape of a formless entity.
York Times. In a similar vein, John Baldessari eliminates
Amy Elkins’ takes on this challenge in her Parting
the center of focus in his Crowds with the Shape of Reason
Words series; she uses a careful arrangement of typog-
Missing series, leaving viewers pining for more context.
raphy over the black and white portraits of inmates
His work deals with the chaotic resistance of personal
who were executed in the state of Texas. Each piece is
identity in the hive-mind of crowds.
an insight to the mind of an inmate, a lost identity in a
Chaos presents brilliant artistry to engage the viewer
faceless institution. Jessica Dimmock’s The Ninth Floor
in diverse narratives. However you might define chaos,
confronts the viewer with a desperate narrative seen in
as a void, a lawless anarchy, a formless entity, or an
an addict - an individual whose existence is scattered
indefinable mass you will be sure to find it represented in
by the chaotic pursuit of a substance. While The Ninth
this issue. I would like to thank the eighteen established
Floor and Parting Words illustrate an introspective
artists, as well as the emerging and spotlighted artists,
viewpoint on chaos that brews inside the individual,
who contributed their sagacious and unyielding work.
other artists portray chaos as an external, all-encom-
Through their lens, the concept of chaos evolves from
passing force. Doug and Mike Starn’s The Big Bambu
our own perspectives.
Pari Dukovic, Grand Central Terminal, 2013.
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