{"id":1754,"date":"2010-06-01T15:23:16","date_gmt":"2010-06-01T22:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp\/2010\/06\/davis_langlois_-_dead_on_arriv\/"},"modified":"2010-06-01T15:23:16","modified_gmt":"2010-06-01T22:23:16","slug":"davis_langlois_-_dead_on_arriv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/2010\/06\/davis_langlois_-_dead_on_arriv.html","title":{"rendered":"Davis & Langlois – dead on arrival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some exhibits are so earnest and academic, so overcooked and underfed that when they are taken seriously by excellent curators, dealers and critics, I experience them as if they were tidal waves surging from a sewer. In their stink, I am momentarily but deeply sick of art.<\/p>\n

A prime example of this sort of thing is currently at James Harris<\/a>: Robert Davis and Michael Langlois<\/a>‘<\/strong><\/font> Into the Void: The Battle of the Martyr as Told by Ingres<\/i>.<\/p>\n

James Harris:<\/p>\n

Robert Davis and Michael Langlois are collaborators who make paintings together, redefining the conventional notion that paintings are made by a single artist and embody a singular essence or “hand.” They met while at the School of the Art Institute and have worked together since 1997, each taking an equal role in developing ideas, choosing subjects, and executing the works.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Davis & Langlois:<\/p>\n

For us, representational painting always includes a deferred
\nrelationship to the painting’s event. In this sense, we see our
\npaintings as historical and symmetrical to our own relationship to the
\npast-defined by an ever-renewing dynamic between memory, its
\nrepresentation and the synchronicity brought about in the object
\nitself. Our vocabulary is derived from popular and sub cultures and
\nwhile we use the oldest trick in the book (mimesis), we are committed
\nto making classical techniques viable options in contemporary art.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Both paragraphs are Grade A Prime nonsense, but hey, nobody’s perfect. The exhibit also comes wrapped in a ridiculous narrative: a resurrected Ingres<\/a> narrates the tale of a 15-year-old Palestinian-American girl thinking of Chief Seattle when he was forced out of his land, text translated into Soundgarden lyrics translated into Arabic. Again, bad but not fatal. <\/p>\n

What’s fatal is the work itself, the painting. It’s gutless, with all the gears of its machinery clogged and dry.

\nThe Resurrection, 2009
\nOil on canvas
\n40 ” x 50″<\/i><\/p>\n

\"DavisLangloisIngres.jpg\"These people are going to make “classical techniques viable options”? Ingres would have laughed them out of his studio. They’re going for the silky sublime, of which the 19th Century French NeoClassicist was master. What they deliver is competent sign painting. From a distance and viewed from a moving car, their mimesis might pass muster.<\/p>\n


<\/i><\/div>\n

Iman, 2009
\nOil on canvas
\n66″ x 72″<\/i><\/p>\n

\"DavisLangloisgirl.jpg\"In a gallery, a good gallery, it’s a disgrace. Painting is not limping along, needing an assist from whatever rotten crutch is on offer. Painting needs Davis & Langlois like a fish needs a bicycle.

\nInto the Void, 2009
\nOil on canvas
\n96 ” x 104″<\/i><\/p>\n

\"DavisLangloisforest.jpg\"The core of this exhibit made a previous appearance at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago<\/a> (September 5 – 28, 2009). That’s a big venue for a trifling product. <\/p>\n

How Can You Buy Or Sell the Sky, 2009-10
\nWatercolor and silver paint on wall
\nDimensions site specific<\/i><\/p>\n

\"DavisLangloisarabic.jpg\"Through June 19. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some exhibits are so earnest and academic, so overcooked and underfed that when they are taken seriously by excellent curators, dealers and critics, I experience them as if they were tidal waves surging from a sewer. In their stink, I am momentarily but deeply sick of art. A prime example of this sort of thing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}