We invite you to contribute to our current exhibition MORE REAL? Art in the Age of Truthiness. Submit your title and/or label below to see the MORE REAL? art label.
Thomas Demand
Presidency I – V, 2008Chromogenic prints / Four C-Prints/Diasec
Courtesy of the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery
Copyright 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn The camera never lies, right?
What if the subject itself is a fabrication?
This image was commissioned by the New York Times for a magazine cover in 2008. But it is not the real Oval Office. It’s a photograph of a life-sized model that Demand built out of paper, cardboard, and confetti (take a closer look at the rug). Some subtle details are out of place. The American flag is missing its stars; the drapes―a throwback to George W. Bush’s presidency―never hung over Ronald Regan’s desk. And the confetti rug is out of TV’s The West Wing.
In fact, Demand’s Oval Office is based on thousands of images circulating in mass media and pop culture. Instead of depicting the current Oval Office, the artist constructs it as it exists in the popular imagination, as “a happy medium between the myth of this room and the reality of it.”
Courtesy of the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery
Copyright 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn The camera never lies, right?
What if the subject itself is a fabrication?
This image was commissioned by the New York Times for a magazine cover in 2008. But it is not the real Oval Office. It’s a photograph of a life-sized model that Demand built out of paper, cardboard, and confetti (take a closer look at the rug). Some subtle details are out of place. The American flag is missing its stars; the drapes―a throwback to George W. Bush’s presidency―never hung over Ronald Regan’s desk. And the confetti rug is out of TV’s The West Wing.
In fact, Demand’s Oval Office is based on thousands of images circulating in mass media and pop culture. Instead of depicting the current Oval Office, the artist constructs it as it exists in the popular imagination, as “a happy medium between the myth of this room and the reality of it.”
Featured Label
From the IKEA White House CollectionThe furniture in the White House is special because they have a history. The wood (and even the upholstery although it may have been replaced a couple of times over the years) has been graced by the touch of former presidents and their guests. The furniture in the White House is imbued with a certain American gravitas. After all, they bore witness to many historically significant events. What happens when an artist creates IKEA-style reproductions of the furniture that anyone could assemble in any space? What is missing from this reproduction? Is the historical gravitas just a myth?-Silvia RistrettoState of the UnionHow do we relate to images so familiar we accept them without a second glance? In this piece, Thomas Demand is slowly erasing one of the most ubiquitous scenes of modern America—the Oval Office. The details of this near-perfect image are missing: the graphics of the flags, faces of the eagle on the rug and the family in the picture frames, the words and papers we normally associate with this image. The image becomes merely an idea, identifiable but non-unique. Is this office real? In looking at images and the media—central tools of politics—how much are we forgetting about? -BV
Facelift-Rwp
The HotseatWhat place is more treacherous, more uncertain and fragile than the Oval Office . . . made of paper? Thomas Demand, known to ritually destroy the sculptures he creates as photographic subjects, here captures the tension and uneasy as the grand seat of power awaits conflagration, purification, and rebirth.-VLN
The Oval Office: Model of Society. A photograph of the oval office? or a photo of a model of the oval office? Maybe a photograph of a model of a hybrid oval office designed by combining different elements of this iconic room from photos take over the years? Look closely, what is real in the age of truthiness?-MB
Presidential SteamersWhen viewing this recognizable scene, take special care to notice the floor. Cleaning the oval office is no easy task and each worker must achieve security clearance before entering the room and touching the presidential furnishings. This image was taken the morning after an incident involving a visiting diplomat and a spilled glass of red wine. The rug was rushed out in the middle of the night to a confidential cleaning service in charge of restoring it to its former state. As you can see, everything is now back in order. -LH
Miss Universe-TCP
So Official-DJ
