Customer Reviews

Matthew Barney: CREMASTER 3

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I find the responses to Barney's productions amusing because I am aware they represent personal identifications, in spite of the cries of mysogyny, with a typical white masculine ideology rather than critical responses. And that is one of the important aspects of the Cremaster Cycle: a visceral response: a cremaster-kick, if you will. It erupts in your face. Out of Barney, all over you. It is twisted but blunt.

Many reviews--just browse the Amazon universe--represent the world in dialectical oppositions. Out here we have mostly the following: good Barney/bad Barney; sexist Barney/not-sexist Barney; trash Barney/intellectual Barney. Whatever! We wish it were so simple. No learning possiblein a world where an authoritative voice is deferred to when assigning a positive or negative value to an event or idea or individual. A work of art isn't "bad" because it presents sexist, mysogynistic, repulsive, scrumptious, beautiful, ugly, erotic, pornographic, cannibalistic, testicular, white, racist, nationalistic images/symbols/myths all-together and at once both as aesthetic and poetic--as form and content. We must ask: Who is the art for? What is it supposed to do? Why choose the specific genre? At what is it directed?

Maybe we can begin accepting that we need art that refuses simple consumption because work that refuses simple consumption refuses to fortify the dominant and oppressive ideological structures in society. So, Barney's public masturbation is a positive act. Particularly funny are the reviewers who discuss the art space of the Gugg in NY more than Barney's work documented in that space.

That said: I find the Cremaster Cycle pleasing, troubling, and extremely boring at different times. I think it is beautiful. And I find it technically wonderful. Anyways... Better to wallow in complexity than to knee-jerk my way towards over-generalization.

But, see it for yourself and then discuss your cremaster response publicly. That's the point. Cremaster 3 (and 1 & 2) is being screened around the country right now; some places are showing the entire cycle. Art should intervene and disrupt. And if it cannot irrupt the public sphere, it should erupt all over it.

What a deception.. Mathew Barney is very talented, he's graphically great.. but he misses one point: no contact is beeing established between the character and the viewer or just between the characters, making it a very cold piece of work.. his characters look build out of plastic or simply modals saying: Okay is the photo shoot over now? So to me thats just design pictures..its as interesting as looking at a publicity book..

Matthew Barney, Cremaster 3 (The Guggenheim Museum, 2003)

Matthew Barney's oft-celebrated and yet little-seen Cremaster series of films was finally completed with the release of Cremaster 3 in 2002. As a celebration, the Guggenheim mounted a showing of stills from the five films in early 2003. This is the book printed as a companion to the showing. As should be expected from both Barney and the Guggenheim, it's a sumptuous release.

The vast majority of the book is nothing but photographs, though a few pieces of text flit in and out. The movies have an almost dadaesque sense of both being rooted in a place and being dislocated; the book, too, bears that same mark. You know, for example, you're looking at a closeup of a Chrysler hood ornament. But why? And what's that in the reflection, so very distorted? What's Barney's fascination with the Chrysler Building, anyway? Why is Aimee Mullins even more gorgeous when made up to look like a leopard?

Of course, none of these questions actually get answered. But the films, and this book, are about visual experience anyway, unless you want to spend hundreds of hours dissecting the intricate layers of symbolism with which every second of the films are invested. In which case, go to it, and let us know what you find; for most folks, I think the simple beauty of the images will be enough. Either way, it's certainly worth a look. ****

This book is simply a high-quality set of still photos from the film "Cremaster Cycle 3." If you are looking for an explanation of the meaning of the film and its accompanying artwork, you will have to look to Nancy Spector's "Cremaster Cycle." This book actually has better still photos from the film, but lacks photos of the sculptures and installations that comprised the Cycle at the Guggenheim.

This book stands on its own only if you already have seen the film and have studied it's meaning. I consider this book to be a nice companion to the definitive work, Nancy Spector's book which summarizes the entire series. It has very little overlap with that book, and the images are bigger and better.

If you are a Barney fan, this is a must-have companion to the huge Cremaster Cycle "Bible" being sold at the showings and on Amazon. This is basically a book of stills from the film, in the order they occur. Relive such exciting moments as Matthew Barney getting his teeth smashed in at the racetrack! Aimee Mullins walking on creepy Perspex prosthetic legs! and Mathew Barney in the dentist's chair having rectal surgery! He might be a genius, he might be a nut, but he's a damn fine artist, sculptor and filmmaker.

This also refers to the exhibit currently at the Guggenheim. To see the full exhibit you have to visit 3 times to see all 5 films that are summarized in the program. Still, I got the gist of Barney's self-involved misogynistic sperm-worshiping expression of psychosis at my expense. The gist of this show is that the descent of the male testicle is the pinnacle of creation. I found the show offensive for its misogynistic treatment of the leopardess, identification with (vs. mere compassion for) Jeffrey Dammer, etc. I can see how in our Howard Stern-NASCAR culture this show would be a big it, but it's a pity. The Guggenheim shows again it is not beneath stooping to the DOLLAR. So much for culture. Barney may be a virtuoso in that he knows how to make a film, mix plastic and vaseline to create a smegma-like substance he turns into art, and throw a lot of mythic references into a stew to exorcise whatever demons possess him, but what's in it for me? It teaches me nothing about culture or history, except maybe that men run the world because their testicles have dropped. I can think of certain megalomaniac dictators who also relied on mythic allusions, worshipped mass-murder, and were considered artists. But I would rather not attend their exhibitions, and feel it's a pity that the Guggenheim thinks this is worth protecting as vital cultural material. Provocative, yes, but then, so is a train wreck.

The world of Matthew Barney is one wherein Jodorowsy collides with the chilly vistas of Helmut Newton. Monstrous grotesques march against backdrops of Art Deco splendour and the viewer is taken to new rapturous heights. Like splatter films? High fashion? Art? Perversion? CREMASTER 3 has it all. The cremaster, as every child knows, is the muscle that controls a man's testicular sac. This, literally, is Art with Balls.

As visually beautiful as the movie was it was boring, lack luster and so filled with boring symbolism that it isn't possible to follow without a companion guide. This book isn't that guide. It's a more expensive version than the movie was to see in the theatre but a lot less painful.

This has as much insight and intelligence as a 10 year old's notebook doodles. The symbols were basic and direct and the artist expects you to see insight in nothing. The actual exhibit at the Guggenheim is worse, proving there really is no central depth of understanding, just another baby boomer mentality running amuck. Maybe if the Guggenheim stopped trying to build fancy buildings and centered on ground breaking art, we wouldn't have to accept such meaningless work as meaningful. Then again, work like this just proves the Guggenheim is a sad institution worth dying. We should congratulate Mr Barney for helping them along.