For the second cultural event I attended Dario Robleto’s solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. On display was a collection of his works from the past decade. The collection explored “how art can contribute to our understanding of the experience of wartime” (Nora Burnett Abram, MCA associate curator). The artist Robleto has an interesting and comprehensive way of addressing the conflict of war; he chooses to focus on not only the soldiers experience but also their widows, children, extended family and health care providers. For me this approach made the conflict easier to relate to, Robleto brought the experience of war on faraway battlefields back home to everyday America.
Robleto did not center his work on one particular war; rather he investigated the overall genre of war conflict. Although all of his pieces are three-dimensional and many are sculptures none of pieces are sculptures of people. Instead he used photographs, boxing gloves, buttons and many other everyday items to approach the subject less directly. I felt that the absence of people in his work was intentional as if the soldiers never returned home or if they had they were so altered by the conflict that who they had been when they had shipped out was now gone. It tied into the overall feeling of loss I experienced when viewing the collection.
A large portion of Robleto’s work had words and phrases incorporated into them. Furthermore the artist statements were quite detailed. I thought the words and statements personalized the piece and brought unique stories to the objects. I got the impression the artist was trying to convey an entire story not just a brief feeling or snapshot into the life of his subjects. (The Melancholic refuses to surrender)
The first piece in the exhibit that I viewed was “The Melancholic Refuses To Surrender”. The piece struck me acutely, it was the first time I had encountered art of this nature. On first glance the boxing gloves were not startlingly, they were just a little larger than real life scale and the worn dark red coloring was quite accurate. However, on closer inspection Robleto’s choice of material was unnerving, the texture was ceramic rather than fabric and the gloves that in real life are symbols of power seemed fragile. The artist statement informed me that the gloves were made of “broken male hand bones, ground coal, horse hair, dirt, pigments, lead salvaged from the sea, string, rust” and “a melted vinyl record of Leadbelly’s ‘The Titanic’”. His choice of materials was effective in portraying a sense of destruction and defectiveness. Instinctively I felt that something was not right, that the conflict that the wearer of these gloves had experienced was harrowing. The bone dust used to construct the gloves reminded me of cremations and a chilling awareness that life is vulnerable. The gloves seemed to be an elaborate interactive tombstone. This feeling was echoed by many other pieces in the exhibit. I felt that I could almost touch the pain and grief in the room.
I was impressed by the artist’s ability to change styles from “The Melancholic Refuses To Surrender” to the noticeably different “Defiant Gardens”. “Defiant Gardens” is a large-scale piece 79.5inch by 61inch by 4.5inch (MCA exhibition guide). The piece is made from “cut paper, homemade paper (pulp made from soldiers letters sent home), thread and cotton from soldiers uniforms”, dead battlefield shrapnel, dead flowers from battlefields, bullet lead and a quite few more items (artist statement). At first glance the piece is overwhelming in its magnitude and detail. In order to comprehend the piece I had to view it section by section. (Suspension)
Writing on the piece proclaims that the piece is made by the “National War Garden Committee” and the “Women’s Central Association of Soldier’s Relief”. I felt that the piece depicted the world of a soldier’s wife or widow. Framed pictures of soldiers in uniforms and couples were embedded in the piece. The pictures were accompanied by short statements for example; “Lunge for life as if it were air” and “With nothing to risk love can’t exist.” I could be mistaken but I felt the piece was a shrine to a husband gone to war, the writing in the piece seemed like lovers prayer for their soldiers survival or justification for their husband leaving to fight. Although nothing in the piece explicitly states that the soldiers in the pictures died at war, the form of the piece suggests funeral wreaths. The dead flowers, muted colors and faded pictures speak of something that is no longer living and preserved solely in memory. The sheer detail of the piece put me in mind of the days and months spent waiting, praying and missing the soldiers at war, as if each day the soldiers were missed, someone would plant a new flower in the garden, or add another detail to the shrine. Taken altogether, the piece felt like an entire life spent missing someone. According to Abrams the curator the work “a tribute to this time-traveling solider of Robleto’s imagination”, personally I felt it was more Robleto’s tribute to the memories of the women left behind. Although the form of “Defiant Gardens” is different from “The Melancholic Refuses To Surrender” I experienced the same emotions when looking at both of them. The grief was palatable, I half expected to turn around and see a crowd of grieving widows dressed in black. Robleto’s work encapsulates a world full of pain and loss on an extremely personal level and while the exhibit emotionally difficult to experience; I respect Robleto’s work and his power to intensely convey the torment of war.
