Published in 1940, Carson McCuller’s novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter pre-dates the internet by half a century, but its treatment of the issues surrounding identity and societal acceptance remain acutely relevant.
Lu Yang. Poster for Uterus Man, a video by Lu Yang, 2013. Image Courtesy of the artist and Beijing Commune.
A group exhibition being held in the Azerbaijani capital Baku has adopted the name of the book to explore those themes as experienced in our digital age, when ownership or control of image and self-representation are key to how we interact with the world.
Pierre Huyghe and Phillipe Parreno’s important millennial project No Ghost Just a Shell forms the foundation of the show. In it, the duo’s video works look at the re-use of a generic anime character called Annlee, which they bought from a Japanese studio and made available for other artists to use. A contemporary take on anime comes from Lu Yang, whose installation questions tropes by imagining a heroic central character made of a uterus.
Bunny Rogers’ work transports the viewer to the library of Columbine High School, scene of a gun massacre said to have been triggered by the proliferation of ultra-violence in video games, where her self-portrait persona exists inside two imaginary animated television shows. The work of Neil Beloufa, Hannah Black, Camille Henrot, Parker Ito and Jasper Spicero also features in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which begins at the YARAT arts centre on 25 September and runs until January next year.
Bunny Rogers,
Self-Portrait as clone of Jeanne d’Arc, 2014.
Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle PhotoRag Ultrasmooth 305g, artist frame. Courtesy the artist and Société, Berlin.
Bunny Rogers,
Self-Portrait as clone of Jeanne d’Arc, 2014.
Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle PhotoRag Ultrasmooth 305g, artist frame. Courtesy the artist and Société, Berlin.
Parker Ito, Installation view: A Lil Taste of Cheeto in the Night, 2015.
Image courtesy of the artist and Château Shatto
Neil Beloufa, Data for Desire, 2014, 47’39 min.
Image courtesy of the artist
Neil Beloufa, Data for Desire, 2014, 47’39 min.
Image courtesy of the artist
Camille Henrot, My Anaconda Don’t, 2015,
Watercolor on Paper, 140x209cm.
Image courtesy of the artist and YARAT
Camille Henrot, He Keep Telling me it’s Real, 2015,
Watercolor on Paper, 140x209cm.
Image courtesy of the artist and YARAT
Pierre Huyghe, One Million Kingdoms, 2001.
Animated film. Duration 7mins.
Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.
Still from: Lu Yang’s Uterus Man, 2013.
Single channel video, 11’20.
Image Courtesy of the artist and Beijing Commune.
Bunny Rogers,
Self-Portrait as clone of Jeanne d’Arc, 2014.
Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle PhotoRag Ultrasmooth 305g, artist frame. Courtesy the artist and Société, Berlin.
Bunny Rogers, Clone State Bookcase, 2014.
Maple wood, metal, Limited-Edition Elliott Smith plush dolls,
“Ferdinand the Bull” third-place mourning ribbons, casters.
Courtesy the artist and Société, Berlin.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is at YARAT Contemporary Art Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan,
25 September 2015 – 9 January 2016. www.yarat.az
