VIRUS
Artists Anonymous is pleased to present VIRUS, the final instalment of their multi-sensory anti-superhero epoch, Apocalyptic Warriors, executed and exhibited over the past three years in New York, London, Berlin and now Zurich. Each exhibition in this series is devoted to a single Warrior, of which there are six: War, Drugs, Hunger, Pollution and Overpopulation, Death and Virus. Unlike traditional super heroes, defenders of justice and protectors of mankind, the Warriors are conspiring to summon the apocalypse, the destruction of humanity, the end of life on Earth as we know it. And they are succeeding.
Artists Anonymous personify these intangible concepts, interpreting and appropriating the Riders of the Apocalypse to extend beyond the Bible and encompass the Zeitgeist of modern life. As adapted archetypes, universally recognized across disparate cultures and religions, the Warriors play the protagonists in a complex fictional narrative that parallels our current, collective reality. Aspects of Greco-Roman mythology, pagan gods, the Anti-Christ and other familiar icons of both ancient and modern spiritual philosophies converge to create the Apocalyptic Warriors, ironic champions of society’s vices, phobias and self-inflicted suffering.
Virus alludes to Pestilence, the biblical purveyor of illness, but is visually represented as a female deity reminiscent of Kali, the Hindu Goddess of Destruction. In her hands she wields both death and disaster, but also life and creation. Her full-body portrait, flanked by paintings of winged female guards, is displayed in its own exhibition room, a temple honouring chaos, a sacred altar of profane worship. Virus plays her role with terrifying indiscrimination: plagues wipe out entire cities, mothers lose their children, men waste away in agony, no one is spared from her wrath. However, new life is spawned in the shadow of her carnage, because, as in Hindu philosophy, destruction and creation are mutually inclusive. Deformed animals, test-tube babies, and offspring viruses are the spoils of her war, becoming the next generation of manipulated species, the inheritors and perpetuators of her infection and contamination.
Painting, photography, sculpture, installation and performance comprise VIRUS, as with every other chapter of the Apocalyptic Warriors series, but Artists Anonymous consider themselves, first and foremost, as painters. Their technical process and compositions are informed by numerous art historical precedents, ranging from El Greco’s miniature models, to John Singer Sargent’s grandiose portraiture. Despite the highly politicized and occasionally morbid nature of the Apocalyptic Warriors series, Artists Anonymous imbibe the work with a distinct sense of dark humour that is both ironic and playful, without passing moral judgement or assigning blame. They take a theme and throw it into a kaleidoscope, shattering one central idea into hundreds of overlapping, fractured, and still unified elements, which coalesce in their installations to create a provocative and surreal universe.
Immediately upon entering the exhibition, the viewer finds himself outside again, confronted by mutant animals, patchwork breeds not of this Earth, and sounds which belong in nature. These bizarre creatures recall failed science experiments, genetic engineering gone awry, or the consequences of toxic waste. They are also references to the artists’ collective German heritage and the Bavarian hunting tradition of reassembling gaming trophies. Man’s penchant for manipulating life is obvious in these taxidermied sculptures, which welcome the viewer to their twisted environment and the exhibition.
Protruding from the wall in the first exhibition room is a trailer, decorated with symbols of eastern religions and the counter-culture American hippies of the 1960’s, whose bohemian ideals were ultimately exploited and mass marketed by the mainstream. The consumption of eastern philosophy by western society exemplifies man’s inherent longing for a spiritual scapegoat, some abstract excuse for the things he can not understand. Religious figures, despite conflicts in doctrine, all provide a similar service to their followers, namely the ability to absolve themselves of responsibility for their actions, or to explain events beyond their control.
Just as plagues in the Middle Ages were the fault of Pestilence, fundamentalist Christians argue today that AIDS is God’s punishment for homosexuality, despite all statistical and scientific evidence to the contrary. As our understanding of genetics develops, affording man more power to manipulate his body and environment, the existential responsibility to use this power for social progress, and not for personal gain, grows more immediate. If man attempts to replace God as Creator, humanity enters a new era of post-modern morality, beset by dilemmas of “right and wrong” that are specific to our scientific age.
The trailer’s role in the exhibition is part conceptual and part biographical. Each Apocalyptic Warrior is related to a specific member of Artists Anonymous, who provide their identities, bodies and personal histories as the alter-egos of these “superheroes”, following the comic book tradition of Clark Kent to Superman, Bruce Wayne to Batman, and so on. Virus’s altar-ego is Maya, a member of AA who, at one time, lived in a trailer similar to the one exhibited here. The trailer’s interior, however, gives a false impression of its inhabitant, illustrating the malleability of history.
Diaries and keepsakes, the trinkets and treasures collected by individuals and compiled for the sake of memory, present a biased interpretation of their lives. The past is not static, but rather a symptom of the society or persons responsible for its preservation. As much as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, history is in the hands of the archivist, allowing for alterations that distort our understanding of both our collective and individual past. With the onset of genetic engineering, how we will be viewed by future generations? As “normal”? Or as Neanderthals? Freaks of nature, untouched by the infallible hand of science?
Viral contamination and illness today are inherently associated with intercourse and the exchange of bodily fluids, especially regarding the continuing epidemic of AIDs. Artists Anonymous approach this issue by devoting an entire room to hard-core pornography, the most brutal, yet vapidly commercial expression of perverse sexuality. Washable snakeskin paper lines the walls, recalling swingers clubs and sin-laden sex dens. Devoid of any moral judgement, however, this space exists as a passage, an unavoidable link between exhibition rooms. By inserting this onslaught of aggressive imagery in between two less offensive spaces, the artists intend to comment on the unavoidable presence of sex in contemporary culture and its role in the transmission of viral diseases. No answers are offered here, just the dull background noise of commercial seduction that attempt to distract us from the progression of our daily lives.
Following the porn room is a traditional Herrenzimmer, or Gentleman’s club, where After-images, AA’s terminology for the inverted photographic reproductions of their paintings, are hung next to gaming trophies that echo the animal sculptures in the first exhibition room. The Herrenzimmer denotes the masculine equivalent to the inherently feminine, woodland scene that occupies the first room, which are linked both physically and metaphorically by the pornography room. Dimmed lighting and wooden floors complete the effect, a sombre and exclusive space honouring the misogynist conquests of powerful men.
Upstairs are two adjacent exhibition spaces, one has been converted into a laboratory, the play pen of a mad scientist whose experiments may just be the cause of the chaos below. The other contains only a tank with an invisible foe, the enemy in physical form, the AIDS virus. A video screen in the laboratory shows a woman climbing out of the tank, Virus herself, a creation of God or Man? With this final room we are forced to ponder who is the true conductor of this tragic symphony, playing out its final notes as humanity descends into the abyss.