The Museum of Contemporary Art
(MoCA) held a grand opening on September 7,
2007. The new exhibit went into the mind of Karen
Kilimnik. “Her fascination with ballet, fantasy, and
British culture all require a lot of imagination”, said
Rutger Van Faassen, a visitor.
In the early 1990s, Karen Kilimnik became
popular in the genre of scatter art, which is art made
by artists that gather all kinds of materials and make
an installation look unfi nished.
“Once you have a little clue, scatter art
becomes a lot more interesting.” said Jean Connelly,
a visitor at MoCA.
I Don’t like Mondays, the Boomtown Rats,
Shooting Spree, or Schoolyard Massacre, is an
example of scatter art. It is an installation with gun
shots in the wall, bloody fi ngerprints, and shooting
targets with bullet holes.
“It’s innocence has been twisted,” said
Adrienne Von Lates, curator at MoCA.
Along with this on the fl oor, sits a small
section of dolls, teddy bears, and ballet slippers on
the left hand of the installation.
The installation was inspired by a shooting
that happened at a school, before anyone knew
about Columbine. What intrigued Karen Kilimnik
the most about this shooting was that a teenage girl
was the one held responsible.
“I was surprised when I heard it was a girl.
If it was a boy it would’ve been not so surprising,”
said Esther St. Lot, a security guard at MoCA.
Fairy Tales are the great story of ballet, the
imagery of which suffuses Kilimnik’s art. Like fashion
today, the ballet epitomizes the beauty of the
Romantic era. One of Kilimnik’s current projects
is on ballet--everything from costumes to choreography--
made entirely as an imitation of passages
clipped from classical performances.
Kilimnik, in her mid fi fties, still has love
for fantasy as much as she did when she was a
young girl; Blue Bird on the Folly shows that childlike
love she has.
In a small white gazebo there are two
branches and a screen inside that takes up half of
the wall.
While playing classical music in the
background, a branch appears on the screen. On the
branch there are small ballerinas that walk around
and dance, giving the illusion of seeing pixies.
“It’s pretty wild” said Jorge Miret, a visitor
at MoCA.
Not only do her art pieces show fantasy
and ballet that make the child come out of some of
the visitors, but also some of her other art pieces
that shows her anglophilia (strong admiration for
the British).
For example one of her early scatter art
installations, called The Hellfi re Club Episode of
the Avengers, comes from the British sitcom from
the sixties called The Avengers. The installation
had broken chandeliers on the fl oor, black drapes
hanging from the walls and pictures of a young Paul
McCarthy.
“I don’t try to interpret what it means, I
look at it as a fl ash back to my childhood,”says Van
Faassen,
Along with the visual there is background
music consisting old sixties British bands mixed
with modern British pop stars.
Kilimnik also put a big poster with the
main female character, Ms. Peel (Diana Rigg),
posted on the black drape. The poster on the black
drape shows Peel’s “queen of sin” provocative costume
that she designed herself and got the episode
banned in America.
In Kilimnik’s eyes reality and illusion play
equal parts. Her art pieces are fanciful, yet familiar
to the eye, and are repetitively unsettling.
Whether her art pieces are dealing with a
shooting or dealing with a famous British sitcom,
she still gives it a touch of femininity.
“It’s super creative; you need a lot of
imagination for this exhibition,” said Natalie, Secretary
at MoCA.