PRECARIOUS AS OBTAINED BY ENTREATY OR PRAYER
Timo Fahler, 2020
White Gypsum Cement, Rebar, Steel, Cast Indigenous Matter
Timo Fahler, 2020
White Gypsum Cement, Rebar, Steel, Cast Indigenous Matter
Repetition is a form of change; a continuous looping back to what came before yet now is after. Each return is a beginning again or rather a point of entry. A marker and a trace of the rupture that connects same with same. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in–never a full stop (until the end) but a transition that foregrounds a pattern. A pattern being a form of guidance and a multiple of the same uniqueness as a result of their micro context of place, time and encounter.
This body of work began in Rome. This body of work began in the San Luigi dei Francesi. This body of work began as a study of composition. This body of work began on paper. This body of work began as a turn to painting. This body of work began with addiction. This body of work is an obsession. This body of work is a solace. This body of work began and has not stopped.
The works in “precarious as obtained by entreaty or prayer” fixate on The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602) by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The baroque painting is the third in a series by Caravaggio about the saint, and depicts Matthew at his desk, barely standing and barely seated, as he takes guidance from an angel hovering above him. Each of the works in this exhibition is an interpretation of this composition and in turn they have become re-interpretations of each other. In a way, all 27 works in the show depict the same image.
How often can an image be recreated before it lets go of the original?
Iconography, according to Mieke Bal, “seems to be the examination of precisely this re-use of earlier forms, patterns and figures.” Yet, in their new context the meaning of these forms, patterns and figures may be different; meaning can be acknowledged but does not need to be transferred. The seemingly infinite nature of Fahler’s repetition of the interaction between the tax collector and the angel makes us wonder who these figures are today? Does Matthew remain Matthew, can he? Does Matthew become a self-portrait of the artist? Could he be each of us, eager to receive advice? Fahler raises this question and without answering it points us instead to the humanness of the interaction—giving and accepting help.
Inspiration literally means to breathe life into or to guide. The angel whispers information to Matthew. The painting encouraged Fahler to engage with it. The viewer will receive their own message from these works. With each repetition, i.e. each new interpretation by Fahler of the Caravaggio, the narrative changes leading this body of work into an inquiry of self and of material.
Central to the exhibition are twelve relief works cast from plaster mixed with environmental debris. On the one hand, the casts obscure the underlying rebar drawings that are based on figures by Matthew and the angel and that hold the work together. Although some of these structural drawings are themselves already abstracted, their placement, curves, and proportion cling on to the original. (Notice the focus of lines and shapes in the top middle and lower left of each work). This tension between figuration and abstraction, an important feature of Fahler's practice overall, complicates the semantics of this series.
If we follow Bal's iconography, recognition does not equal understanding; one of the most abstracted reliefs, installed in an abandoned billboard, shows the drawing, the pattern, the clearest; whereas, some of the rebar underdrawings most identical to Caravaggio's composition have disappeared because of the cast around them.
On the other hand, the plaster filling the rebar drawings is an imprint of the specific locations each work was made in (from), expanding the questions as to who these figures can be onto, who they may be specifically in Nebraska, Oklahoma or Iowa. The imprints are not so much an active mapping of a place but rather a question into one’s personal footprint. Where do I come from and what is my (local) impact?
In earlier work the white plaster mixed with brown or other earth tone dyes referred to Fahler’s biracial heritage, a personal story. Although, the earth cast in these works also consists of predominantly brown hues the narrative moves beyond the personal and weaves in concepts about the origin of place and humankind overall. Literally picking up fragments of the micro contexts they were made in, yet prone to crumble.
The title, “precarious as obtained by entreaty or prayer,” is derived from a poem by Cecilia Vicuña in which she creates the notion of an empty record (record as in something that records such as language). Could repetition be a form of emptying, slowly hollowing out an existing conception so that it can be filled again? And does the reuse of one image make that image stronger or more fragile, will in wear thin or last eternally?
Repetition does not follow a linear direction. Uncertain in what ways these works will develop, presented here together they render as a prequel to a rebuilt ruin. Nothing new but welcome.
– Lara Schoorl (Close Distance Press)
This body of work began in Rome. This body of work began in the San Luigi dei Francesi. This body of work began as a study of composition. This body of work began on paper. This body of work began as a turn to painting. This body of work began with addiction. This body of work is an obsession. This body of work is a solace. This body of work began and has not stopped.
The works in “precarious as obtained by entreaty or prayer” fixate on The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602) by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The baroque painting is the third in a series by Caravaggio about the saint, and depicts Matthew at his desk, barely standing and barely seated, as he takes guidance from an angel hovering above him. Each of the works in this exhibition is an interpretation of this composition and in turn they have become re-interpretations of each other. In a way, all 27 works in the show depict the same image.
How often can an image be recreated before it lets go of the original?
Iconography, according to Mieke Bal, “seems to be the examination of precisely this re-use of earlier forms, patterns and figures.” Yet, in their new context the meaning of these forms, patterns and figures may be different; meaning can be acknowledged but does not need to be transferred. The seemingly infinite nature of Fahler’s repetition of the interaction between the tax collector and the angel makes us wonder who these figures are today? Does Matthew remain Matthew, can he? Does Matthew become a self-portrait of the artist? Could he be each of us, eager to receive advice? Fahler raises this question and without answering it points us instead to the humanness of the interaction—giving and accepting help.
Inspiration literally means to breathe life into or to guide. The angel whispers information to Matthew. The painting encouraged Fahler to engage with it. The viewer will receive their own message from these works. With each repetition, i.e. each new interpretation by Fahler of the Caravaggio, the narrative changes leading this body of work into an inquiry of self and of material.
Central to the exhibition are twelve relief works cast from plaster mixed with environmental debris. On the one hand, the casts obscure the underlying rebar drawings that are based on figures by Matthew and the angel and that hold the work together. Although some of these structural drawings are themselves already abstracted, their placement, curves, and proportion cling on to the original. (Notice the focus of lines and shapes in the top middle and lower left of each work). This tension between figuration and abstraction, an important feature of Fahler's practice overall, complicates the semantics of this series.
If we follow Bal's iconography, recognition does not equal understanding; one of the most abstracted reliefs, installed in an abandoned billboard, shows the drawing, the pattern, the clearest; whereas, some of the rebar underdrawings most identical to Caravaggio's composition have disappeared because of the cast around them.
On the other hand, the plaster filling the rebar drawings is an imprint of the specific locations each work was made in (from), expanding the questions as to who these figures can be onto, who they may be specifically in Nebraska, Oklahoma or Iowa. The imprints are not so much an active mapping of a place but rather a question into one’s personal footprint. Where do I come from and what is my (local) impact?
In earlier work the white plaster mixed with brown or other earth tone dyes referred to Fahler’s biracial heritage, a personal story. Although, the earth cast in these works also consists of predominantly brown hues the narrative moves beyond the personal and weaves in concepts about the origin of place and humankind overall. Literally picking up fragments of the micro contexts they were made in, yet prone to crumble.
The title, “precarious as obtained by entreaty or prayer,” is derived from a poem by Cecilia Vicuña in which she creates the notion of an empty record (record as in something that records such as language). Could repetition be a form of emptying, slowly hollowing out an existing conception so that it can be filled again? And does the reuse of one image make that image stronger or more fragile, will in wear thin or last eternally?
Repetition does not follow a linear direction. Uncertain in what ways these works will develop, presented here together they render as a prequel to a rebuilt ruin. Nothing new but welcome.
– Lara Schoorl (Close Distance Press)
Mieke Bal. Quoting Caravaggio. Contemporary Art, Preposterous History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Cecilia Vicuña. New and Selected Poems of Cecilia Vicuña. Translated by Rosa Alcalá. Berkeley: Kelsey Street Press
Cecilia Vicuña. New and Selected Poems of Cecilia Vicuña. Translated by Rosa Alcalá. Berkeley: Kelsey Street Press
Drawing Poem by Timo Fahler:
Timo Fahler Studio Visit in LA:
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Photos Courtesy of Mike Nesbit
Compiled video from Timo Fahler exploring Oklahoma:
Video Courtesy of Timo Fahler
Compiled video from Timo Fahler exploring Nebraska:
Video Courtesy of Timo Fahler
Casting Process Photos:
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Photos Courtesy of Timo Fahler
Compiled video from Timo Fahler in Oklahoma + Nebraska:
Video Courtesy of Timo Fahler
Photos Courtesy of Dan Schwalm
Email conversation between Timo Fahler, Ross Miller, Mike Nesbit, and BFF Omaha regarding this exhibition:
Email conversation between Timo Fahler and Mike Nesbit regarding this exhibition:
About the Artist:
Los Angeles-based artist Timo Fahler uses plaster, ceramics, steel, wood, and found objects to construct highly visual and culturally significant works. Combining formal elements of sculpture with references to his Mexican heritage, Fahler says of his practice, “My work explores ideas of use and reuse through casting and manipulating found objects and combining them with relics that relate to personal experiences. By restructuring these objects in a manner that indicates function and meaning while remaining abstract in form, I evoke the bricoleurian practice evident in Mexican culture, yet present work representative of a multi-cultural aesthetic.
Timo Fahler (b. 1978 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) studied at San Francisco City College, Kansas City Art Institute, and received an MFA from UCLA in 2012. Fahler has shown his works in several California exhibitions including LAXART, Hollywood, BBQLA, Los Angeles, Cathy Cooper Studios, Los Angeles, Ballroom Marfa, Texas, New Image, Los Angeles, Ibid Gallery, Los Angeles, and Annie Wharton Gallery, Los Angeles, as well as the Rema Hort Mann Benefit Auction, Los Angeles, and Headlands Center for the Arts Benefit Auction, Marin Headlands, CA.
www.instagram.com/team__oh
Los Angeles-based artist Timo Fahler uses plaster, ceramics, steel, wood, and found objects to construct highly visual and culturally significant works. Combining formal elements of sculpture with references to his Mexican heritage, Fahler says of his practice, “My work explores ideas of use and reuse through casting and manipulating found objects and combining them with relics that relate to personal experiences. By restructuring these objects in a manner that indicates function and meaning while remaining abstract in form, I evoke the bricoleurian practice evident in Mexican culture, yet present work representative of a multi-cultural aesthetic.
Timo Fahler (b. 1978 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) studied at San Francisco City College, Kansas City Art Institute, and received an MFA from UCLA in 2012. Fahler has shown his works in several California exhibitions including LAXART, Hollywood, BBQLA, Los Angeles, Cathy Cooper Studios, Los Angeles, Ballroom Marfa, Texas, New Image, Los Angeles, Ibid Gallery, Los Angeles, and Annie Wharton Gallery, Los Angeles, as well as the Rema Hort Mann Benefit Auction, Los Angeles, and Headlands Center for the Arts Benefit Auction, Marin Headlands, CA.
www.instagram.com/team__oh