X-Country Selection
Jefferson
Little animates nostalgia. He borrows images from the past and refreshes
them, repeats them, twists the context and takes the mind away from the
original object just enough so as to preserve the identity of the image and
yet offer back an isolated interpretation that renders the object somewhat
strange. That there is a reference to childhood, either through the vintage
of the object, the actual use of toys as subject or in the faded formats of
the hand colored prints: reinforces the nostalgia. From the past, he
reasserts the object into a composition that results in a peculiar
quaintness or queerness as it resides in isolation or suspension or
repetition.
The psychology of objective reality - what is real, what do we change
between the confrontation and the translation? - is brought into play and
the ordinary becomes surreal. The darts, hovering in space are motionless
yet charged with the potential to move and seemingly not as a trajectory
towards a single point but in a formation like a military commando unit.
This animates them. The composition gives them an unusual potential for a
future. Jefferson Little turns the switch between the stillness of the
frozen moment and the next thing about to happen. The rubber stamps are an
example. The image is a stamp, held in pace by a rubber outline and then
placed in position and colored. This gives individuality to the module as it
is treated with extra care. With a minimum of suggestion as to the context,
(the open plain of the darts, the haloed peephole of the hobby horses, the
misty atmosphere where the blinking-eye-houses are suspended), Little
breathes new life into the old familiarities. In doing so, the vitality in
the animation ensues and that which was once trustworthy and held in its
place awakens to new possibilities. There is a slight discomfort present as
if these depictions might act out in a manner that is unusual and surprise
with a voice of their own. It is the moment when the toys under the
Christmas tree begin to dance.
Copyright © 2006, Headbones Gallery, The Drawers
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