This exhibition review was published on Widewalls Magazine on June 25, 2022.
Enacting Disassociation
Jean-Luc Moulène solo exhibition at Miguel Abreu Gallery
© Jean-Luc Moulène, Courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery. Photo: Stephen Faught.
An unwritten rule of thumb for identifying good art, especially among the lasting practices, is to confirm how identifiable the works are - finding the “signatures”. The stronger and more apparent those “signatures” are, it’s as though the maker’s place in art history is more self-evident. Nonetheless, this test was immediately nullified when I delved into Jean-Luc Moulène’s world at his two-location solo show “Clearly” on view at Miguel Abreu Gallery. The lack of stylistic similarity in between pieces is shocking. Motifs, materials, compositions, treatments, touches are all over the place. But it soon became clear to me that Jean-Luc Moulène is after something. And that “something” is clearly not a desire to repetitively emphasize how the artworks are not only made by him but are also to be remembered by his name only. In most of his works, the story-teller’s rhetoric and intonation are infinitely dis-emphasized compared to the story told: Jean-Luc Moulène is, essentially, enacting disassociation.
For most artists and practitioners, art is more or less about making associations. In fact, disassociation is omnipresent, even though not desired, in most cases. How many times have we praised the juxtaposition of two works, crediting their strong linkage in color theme, subject matter, conceptual references or all of the above, failing to recognize that the profound disassociation in between the two stand-alone individuals is impossible to be completely purged? How many times have we read a press release for a group show where each artist deserves and only deserves one sentence, as if each artist’s contribution to the curated concept is strictly equal mathematically? Disassociation remains at the very core of the Yin to art history, art making and art criticism’s Yang. Nevertheless, the concept of disassociation is difficult to grasp or depict in a direct manner. This is because it carries much passiveness, reminiscent of the concept “nothingness” in Sartre’s philosophy, which Moulène is evidently familiar with. In both cases, any active depictions aren’t as adequate as a play-out of the concept which is complementary.
Jean-Luc Moulène poignantly philosophized the concept of dissociation to form his most unique path of enacting via his artworks as “examples”. The truth is not told, depicted or provided. It is exemplified and played out over and over again in any items, household or made, that he found to exhibit tension in disjunction. It might be an arrogant approach to some when no direct visual clues are offered to be the gateway into the depth of the exhibition, but as an attempt in holding the viewer’s hand to perform “dissociation” run by run, with all examples themselves being mostly disassociated from one another, “Clearly” is a show that is utterly humble and romantic.
Jean-Luc Moulène, Poudrée, 2021. Steel and glass, 18 7/8 x 18 7/8 x 15 3/4 inches. © Jean-Luc Moulène, Courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery. Photo: Stephen Faught.
Constraint and emancipation, a set of complementary but conditionally flirty relationships, are on clear display in “Poudrée, 2021” which pendants down from the central ceiling of a singled out space. Unlike the phallic works by Hans Bellmer or Louise Bourgeois when the battle of tension ends with a lean towards the constraint side, Jean-Luc Moulène’s treatment here provides a much looser sensation, hinting at an ease in releasing that tension. Instead of viewing constraint as a strict enforcer and decision-maker, the fluid-shaped metal bars act as an organic foundation for the glasses to freely fill in, uninterested in the final shape that it forms. Coloring of the glasswork is an unforced purple-pink, configuring a pan-erotic balance that is disassociated from common-perception of phallic art.
Jean-Luc Moulène, Tournée-Tournante [Turned-Turning] (Vierzon), 2022. Hard Foam and black soft touch coat, 29 1/2 x 6 3/4 inches. © Jean-Luc Moulène, Courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery. Photo: Stephen Faught.
A number of linear sculptures in darker hues are loosely arranged in the spacious hall at the rear part of the gallery. These works are adequately positioned apart, honoring each sculpture’s unique dialogue with the viewer. Among these stands one of the most philosophical iterations of disassociation in the exhibition: “Tournée-Tournante [Turned-Turning] (Vierzon), 2022.” Two spiraling figures erect vertically with a well-balanced branch stemming from a base while another more energetic branch is perfectly geared into the primary. Under Hegel’s dialectics, the thesis and the antithesis fight against each other to form a circle only to realize the end point is already a level above the starting point, depicting a “spiral up” movement. “Tournée-Tournante” disassociated this notion to provide two illustrations, both of which are distinct and self-sufficient by their own logic. However, the combination of the two as a whole seems to follow both or neither lines of logic. The title of the work also suggests the impossibility of differentiation between the impetus and the result when the moving self ironically fits perfectly into the sloping angle of the steady self.
Jean-Luc Moulène, Quelque Chose Blanc (Knot 3.1 Color Spectrum) (Le Buisson), 2022. Oil paint on hard foam, 18 1/2 x 28 3/4 x 28 3/4 inches. © Jean-Luc Moulène, Courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery. Photo: Stephen Faught.
Jean-Luc Moulène, Buborg (Le Buisson), 2022. Plastic, wood and epoxy resin, 37 3/8 x 19 3/4 x 12 5/8 inches. © Jean-Luc Moulène, Courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery. Photo: Stephen Faught.
A few artifacts from the exhibition put Jean-Luc Moulène’s high-flying imagination on full display in enacting how the most basic logics can self-violate. “Quelque Chose Blanc (Knot 3.1 Color Spectrum) (Le Buisson), 2022” shows the light spectrum self-intertwined, laying out the six fundamental colors in a paradoxical fashion: when we visually traverse any side of this two-faced structure, it seems we have only returned to the origin, but in the meantime, “white” has been formed with itself not shown but fully explained. In “Buborg (Le Buisson), 2022,” a figure was created reorganizing organ parts extracted from ten anatomical models. Under this extreme condition of de-construction, all the parts only come back together to form another humanoid of sorts, suggesting the experience’s inability to alter the a priori.
Jean-Luc Moulène, Standard et Ornement [Standard and Ornament] (Le Buisson), 2012. Plastic and bronze, 19 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 23 5/8 inches. © Jean-Luc Moulène, Courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery. Photo: Stephen Faught.
Jean-Luc Moulène, Standard et Ornement [Standard and Ornament] (Le Buisson), 2012. Plastic and bronze, 19 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 23 5/8 inches. © Jean-Luc Moulène, Courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery. Photo: Stephen Faught.
“Standard et Ornement [Standard and Ornament] (Le Buisson), 2021” sees a chair comfortably sitting at the corner of the gallery, with the “ornament” being a bronze sculpture showing the imprint of a pressing hand. We’ve seen in art history with the examples of Chiharu Shiota and Antoni Tàpies that the great maneuvers of the chair tend to include the imaginary summoning of what’s missing - a potential body seated. Jean-Luc Moulène doubled down on the “potential’s game” to give us an extra clue in identifying the missing body. At the same time, however, this ornament seems to become a living part of the chair, vitalized and reaching out to us. In adding this small part of ornament to only one of the armrests, Jean-Luc Moulène masterfully altered a ready-made daily object into something that is not only self-contradictory, but also intertwined and unbalanced. Additionally to the potential body that is missing, the chair itself is now half-present.
Jean-Luc Moulène, Sans nom 1, 2020. Waxed reinforced concrete, 10 5/8 x 29 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches. © Jean-Luc Moulène, Courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery. Photo: Stephen Faught.
Jean-Luc Moulène, Sans nom 1, 2020. Waxed reinforced concrete, 10 5/8 x 29 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches. © Jean-Luc Moulène, Courtesy Miguel Abreu Gallery. Photo: Stephen Faught.
By the time I reached the gallery’s second space at 36 Orchard St., it had already been apparent that there was no need in asking the question of whether or not this one-sculpture display belongs to the same “exhibition” because what I am seeking is everything but a linkage. Completely deprived of any contexts, guides or wall vinyls lies the most synthetical and phenomenological work from this show - “Sans nom 1, 2020.” It is a sex doll inverted inside-out before being casted in concrete. An oral liner which was designed to be the designation of desire was turned into an erector that shoots out. The congregation of high density paradoxical concepts was cooled into coexistence through the application of concrete — a material that lacks the sense of life but mimics human skins. In “Sans nom 1,” the males were feminized; the positives were negativized; the finalized were re-initiated and the movers were moved; all within this wilted but concentrated humanoid, distanced from the main gallery space.
In a speeding world when associations have become premium commodities, acknowledging and celebrating what’s disconnected would prove to be critical and fashionable. Perhaps the only possible path in treating disassociation as a motif is by giving examples of multifaceted associations that lead up to the eventual disassociation. These chains of associations, in the medium of Jean-Luc Moulène’s art, congregate into streams of clues, shooting at the obscure amalgam of disassociation. A few shots might miss; a few would end up in vain; a few could be right on target but won’t provide any feedback. Nonetheless, great art has been enacted in between all these attempts. And the gallery’s best chance in presenting Jean-Luc Moulène’s disassociation is to provide such a battleground of attempts. “Clearly” at Miguel Abreu Gallery did just that.