The Bad Genie By Dominique Robin
I picked up some stones in the Hudson Valley—as I had done in Tuscany—always with the same impulse: that I can hold them in my hand, and that they are beautiful. Some came from an old quarry in Cold Spring in upstate New York), others were removed from a construction site in Manhattan. The former appear to be pegmatite, i.e., “composite” granites (in Latin, “pegma” means “to assemble”), which have rich black spots—like charcoal—that stimulate the imagination. The latter group of stones has green reflective surfaces, flecks of glittery silver, and is mostly composed of iron, which makes them ferromagnetic. Unlike my Tuscan rocks, the rocks of the Hudson Valley were separated from the earth’s crust not by time but by dynamite and jackhammer.
I assemble this debris in twos or threes and then make sculptures (although this word is a bit exaggerated, for such simple assemblages). It is the sort of “drawing” that one makes absentmindedly and playfully while walking or sitting on a river bank and with which one can pleasurably spend an entire afternoon. Sometimes I add polished glass found in the river, or a piece of dirty cardboard, to these creations. Ultimately, I decide that each assemblage will have at least one anthropomorphic stone. My purpose is not to show faces in the shape of stones but rather try to point out my own pareidolia: that human tendency to interpret faces—and, more specifically, to see eyes in inanimate objects or in natural phenomena—which is a genetic trait, written in our body like software, scientists say. “Human brains are exquisitely attuned to perceiving faces. These sophisticated detection skills combined with our brain’s compulsion to extract meaning from the sensory chaos that surrounds us, is why we see faces where there aren’t any.”* From my point of view, pareidolia is a problematic aspect of human perception because it testifies to our desire to see ourselves as constantly present, especially in nature. From there it is only one step from perceiving an image to interpreting that image as a sign from the gods. This tendency can spread like an oil slick during a spill. If the clouds and the stones have eyes, people say, obviously it is because gods are watching us.
Sometimes I think that “pareidolia is a bad genie of the Anthropocene.” I like to articulate this sentence because while it seems pedantic or meaningless, it has a deeper meaning: I mean “bad genie” in the sense that it has the power to grant wishes, but it brings only bad magic. The phrase describes the symptom of a fight that’s already lost, because of genetic factors. Like all Homo sapiens, I project myself into the landscape and the animals. Despite my awareness of this, I keep doing it in my art. We could repeat the same sentence with the word “prosopopoeia” (the personification of an object) in place of “pareidolia.” Prosopopoeia is also a bad genie of the Anthropocene. To put it in provocative terms: it is high time to kill Mickey Mouse, to stop talking animals, to no longer see smoking monsters in the cumulonimbus, and to finally close the eyes of the gods. In short, let’s try to not see our presence everywhere, even if we are now the cause of everything from the shape of the clouds to the silhouette of the trees. A stone, good heavens, is a stone. The future is tautological.
Can I manage in my formal work to resist my own tendency to project myself into the landscape? In reality, it is a balancing act. I do not know if I am acting as a worried intellectual or simply as a child making art. As far as I can see, I like stones that look like the heads of people. I assemble them for the beauty of the gesture. I am happy to pay tribute to these simple shapes and I enjoy creating showcases, expensive printed photos and charcoal drawings to tell a little of their story. I gather scientific knowledge as I can and create science fiction with carbon and ghosts of the landscape: once upon a time, there was a time-space that had waves going through a rocky peak; then, suddenly, the jackhammers came and the stone creatures sprang up.
* “The Fascinating Science Behind Why We See ‘Faces’ In Objects” from mental oss.com/article/538524/science-behind-pareidolia
Further information: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3980010/
Ce projet de création et d'exposition a obtenu la bourse du Ministère de la Culture (DRAC Aquitaine)
ainsi que celle de la Région Aquitaine dite "Actions innovantes"
Dominique Robin: Stone Puzzles from Tuscany’s Valdarno
and N.Y.’s Hudson Valley
Opening Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Exhibit continues through May 8.
Gallery hours: 9:30 am–5:30 pm (Monday–Friday)