Adam Cruces at Kunsthaus Langenthal

Artist: Adam Cruces

Exhibition title: What A Silencer Sounds Like

Curated by: Raffael Dörig

Venue: Kunsthaus Langenthal, Langenthal, Switzerland

Date: February 4 – April 3, 2016

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Kunsthaus Langenthal

Does a silencer really sound like it does in a thriller? Why do drivers in movies always move the steering wheel? Productive (mis)interpretation of situations and things in pop culture and cultural exchange is the departure point for the artistic work of Adam Cruces. The American artist, now living in Switzerland, has produced a large new work series with installations for the exhibition in Langenthal – addressing the question how incongruent imagination and perception are and how virtual and physical realities can be connected.

Based on the idea of a lifecycle in four stages, Cruces developed installations for four rooms of the Kunsthaus. In 0 – 1000 mph/ 67,000 mph/ 490,000 mph one encounters imagery indicative of the beginning of life such as eggs, along with fruits, clocks, and a landscape which divides the space into a day and a night side. Art historical references to the traditional genres of landscape and still life painting can be found in several places, including the eggs and Still Life with Watermelon series of clocks. Still lifes with watermelons from the past centuries are included to convey the development of crops, as the red pulp accounts for more of the fruit’s interior over time – intersecting nature and artificiality. Another element of the installation includes towels, which are stacked foundations and rolled into three anthropomorphic figures lounging around the space, among the ticks of the clocks on both sides of the landscape in the center.

The video installation Memories of Sparks and Strings (After Charlie Mylie) starts from adolescence, the period after the carelessness of childhood and before the concerns of adulthood, full search for identity within a specific boredom. Again the offense and perception of time is implemented with installation, utilizing the iPhone’s slow motion video capture of roman candles being shot at a guitar, coupled with a drone video of a mountainous landscape. The video is projected on a phosphorescent surface on which the light of the projector leaves traces that fade slowly.

The third part of Cruces’ lifecycle, No Drop In A Storm Feels Responsible, is devoted to the conclusion of life. Metabolic functions usually held in private are represented – the natural functions that can be embarrassing, but we never can do without. Conversely, the sound of the indoor fountains is rather welcoming and soothing, the scenery radiates a certain serene sensation, perhaps the calm before death. Once more one finds acknowledgment for the history of art here through the vanitas/ mortality motif. On the walls, images reminiscent of handprints in cave paintings are created by simply touching the plush velvet fabric.

Like the exclamation and question marks at the beginning and end of a sentence in Spanish, Constant Breathing functions as an opening and closing of Cruces’ lifecycle structure. Again Cruces plays with the perception of time as a flag is moved by a high-tech fan, while the strobe highlights and disturbs the motion in the darkness.

– Raffael Dörig