The re-representation of Matthew Barney’s 1991 exhibition Facility of DECLINE at the Gladstone Gallery invokes bizarro sexual tendencies, a creep-factor, and a maleness of sorts, upon first viewing. Barney offers items I might expect to find in a locker room, or in association with football players, but covers them in petroleum jelly, among other materials, and in fleshy (caucasian) colors. These perceived influences are oddly topical since the Donald Trump presidential campaign keeps repeating talking points that include “locker room talk” with regard to male entitlement and sexual harassment.
The piece (I think) called “Drill Team” captured my attention for a few reasons. The name is defined in my mind as a dance and drill team, because I was on a dance/drill team in high school. My personal association provides a -perhaps- unintended, and possibly exciting, layer of juxtaposition. Considering that Barney exhibits video work where he, for instance, wears a bra, panties, and high heels, my associations to the name may be relevant to Barney’s interest in exploring, and subverting, assigned gender roles. By utilizing equipment that is often related to wrestling, football, and weightlifting in the work, even a progressive, gender fluid person such as myself, immediately assigns a male POV to it, falling prey to cultural conditioning. And, in the same way, dance is often programmed to represent femininity. This piece also caught my attention in part because of the, quite literal, added weight in the work. Next to what looked like a bench press sort of station, there were a plethora of small lifting weights, covered or cast in fleshy jelly or silicone, or both. The added weights were skewered or kababed, for lack of a better terms, meaning they were stabbed and strung together. One could not lift one weight without bringing a long all the ones attached to it. This could mean that there are many added burdens perhaps to being an athlete (psychological, emotional, etc).
Admittedly, I had trouble pulling a distinct meaning for the work. It’s hard to understand an artist’s intentions, especially with an artist like Barney who may at times play with seemingly nonsensical assemblages (not a value judgement). The equipment resembled sex toys at times. The one piece with a hanging rope made me think of gym class, which usually occurs during a difficult and sexualized adolescent time-period. I would say one of the themes explored here was most likely the inherent sexual tension in (relatively violent) contact sports. That’s interesting in that, although considered a macho endeavor, many partaking in these sports (I suspect) quietly know that what they’re doing is innately homo-erotic.