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Lot Essay
These seven photographs are stills from the opening sequence of a video recording directed by Matthew Barney and featuring Kenny Lane, Brian Gibney and Matthew Barney as the self indulgent woodland satyrs of Greek Mythology. The tailed figure, who directs and drives the other two, is the persona of the artist. They are jointly engaged in a struggle which is, in effect, the art-making process.
With regard to the title of this work and others in the series, Klaus Kertess has written:
""Drawing" might be read as an adjective or a verb. "Restraint" can be a control or coolant of the heated and wayward flow of the currents of consciousness. Some sort of restraint is always necessary to creation. "Restraint" is often associated with Classical culture. Elsewhere "restraint" refers to a variety of tools employed in sexual bondage. "Restraint" can be mental, physical, voluntary, involuntary, erotic, or all of the preceding, as it is here."
"While his two alter-ego personas engage in their consensual conflict, the primary satyr has been driving and wrestling with the vessel--the autobody--that contains all of them. The blue Cadillac limousine, wrapped in an aureole of flourescence, continuously and mysteriously encircles New York City, gradually drawings itself in through the tunnels and over the bridges, externalizing their gestures within it. And its body is in its turn, flayed and slapsticked by the driving and driven satyr as he and the front seat become maniacally engaged in a tailspin that gives body to the friction that is the essence of the act of drawing." (K. Kertess in "F(r)iction", introductory essay in Drawing Restraint 7 edited by C. Bechtler, Ostfildern, 1995.)
With regard to the title of this work and others in the series, Klaus Kertess has written:
""Drawing" might be read as an adjective or a verb. "Restraint" can be a control or coolant of the heated and wayward flow of the currents of consciousness. Some sort of restraint is always necessary to creation. "Restraint" is often associated with Classical culture. Elsewhere "restraint" refers to a variety of tools employed in sexual bondage. "Restraint" can be mental, physical, voluntary, involuntary, erotic, or all of the preceding, as it is here."
"While his two alter-ego personas engage in their consensual conflict, the primary satyr has been driving and wrestling with the vessel--the autobody--that contains all of them. The blue Cadillac limousine, wrapped in an aureole of flourescence, continuously and mysteriously encircles New York City, gradually drawings itself in through the tunnels and over the bridges, externalizing their gestures within it. And its body is in its turn, flayed and slapsticked by the driving and driven satyr as he and the front seat become maniacally engaged in a tailspin that gives body to the friction that is the essence of the act of drawing." (K. Kertess in "F(r)iction", introductory essay in Drawing Restraint 7 edited by C. Bechtler, Ostfildern, 1995.)