American-pop culture comes to Cyprus, but is it having a pop or having us on?
If Picasso were alive today he’d be making video-art, declares Chris Bors in a phone call from his New York Apartment.
This assumption, isn’t the only tenuous statement that Bors delivers with absolute conviction. His solo exhibition of photos paintings and video-art is boldly titled America Is A Mistake, A Giant Mistake, appropriated from a quote by Sigmund Freud. One would think this means that Bors believes America is, well, a mistake, and one would be wrong. Can we at least assume his video installation George Bush Corporate Whore, We Don’t Want Your Daddy’s War, means that his art work is passionately political? Well, that’s not strictly true either. After a while, you kind of get the feeling that the New York pop-artist is either a giant walking paradox or he’s having us on.
George Bush Corporate Whore, We Don’t Want Your Daddy’s War is a black and white video installation using patterns created by the now primitive program MacPaint, the first ever painting tool for Macintosh computers. The title is taken from a sign Bors saw at an Iraq anti-war demonstration in New York.
In his soft, but deadly sober tone, he reveals, ”It shouldn’t be taken too seriously. The Bush video is more political than other pieces yes, it’s almost like an anti-Bush advertisement you would see on television. But a lot of political art isn’t very popular because it takes itself so seriously. I think the reason why this works is because it’s comical.
“Basically, my distaste for many of Bush’s policies is made very clear through the video. That’s an honest feeling I have. But the way the video is presented, is similar to my feelings about the anti-war demonstration in that it can it can only do so much. And my feelings about contemporary art are that it shouldn’t be taken totally seriously all the time.
“That piece was specifically made because I had a disgust for the reasons for that war. I felt that Bush didn’t exhaust all possibilities. But my art isn’t necessarily going to change the world.”
It emerges that Bors work, rather than trying to change the world, is more simply a reflection of his own world. Through our conversation he exhibits a conscience for world politics and a self-consciousness about being American (particularly one married to a Greek Cypriot fellow artist Ketta Ioannidou), but his work is also an honest and celebratory retrospective of his life experiences.
His post-modern pop art features imagery from popular culture, such as cartoons and video games, as well as representations of adolescent fantasy, autobiographical references and doodles from his sketchbook.
One of the works exhibited at the Argo Gallery is entitled, Saved By The Bell and is a collage of photographs from the kitsch US kids sit-com of the same name.
“All the art I make comes from a very personal level”, he states.
“I realise there may be more important things in life to care about than my childhood TV and movies, but this is a typical teenage upbringing. I think because US culture is so saturated with this environment, that this is the kind of art I want to make because this is what I grew up with.
“I’m not necessarily bashing popular culture”, he declares, “But I do realise the ridiculous quality of some of the things that come out of American pop culture or any pop culture.” On further discussion however, Bors throws up further contradictions.
“I don’t necessarily love whatever is popular, but the thing that I do find funny is that a lot of times this is the only culture that people know of the US. I don’t think people realise how huge the country is and the fact that not everyone likes the same culture.
Despite the fact that all this imagery is forced down your throat, it is a very diverse country. People don’t see the interesting art and intellectual pursuits that come out of this country. Saved by the Bell is just one element of the culture, which I find funny.”
So it seems that rather than his piece offering a critique on US culture, it could also be interpreted as a critique of outside perceptions of the US.
With an air of sudden nonchalance, he offers, “I’m hoping people will have lots of different interpretations, I’m not really trying to make a statement about America, but if people want to think my work is a critique of the US, then that’s OK.”
One can’t shift the feeling however that really he does care what people think. The love/hate relationship with his country permeates through his work, giving meaning, offering interpretations the disparate cultural detritus he exhibits.
So, does he see himself as a sort of anti-ambassador for his country; defending it, and condemning it at the same time?
“I make art because I enjoy the final product and the reaction that I get from other people who hopefully can relate to it or enjoy it. So in a way, I am promoting this culture, yes, but I’m also questioning it at the same time, because I have my doubts about a lot of things I’ve experienced.”
America Is A Mistake, A Giant Mistake
Opening of photo, painting and video exhibition by NewYork’s Chris Bors. October 17. Until November 5. Argo Gallery. 64E Digenis Akritas Av, Nicosia. 7.30pm. Monday-Friday 10am-1pm, 5pm-8pm. Saturday 10am-1pm. Tel: 22-754009, Fax: 22-324674.
