Kim Lieberman at Gallery AOP
by Cara Snyman
For her new solo at Gallery AOP entitled 'Human Constellations', Kim Lieberman took up lace-making. The central motif for this exhibition, as seen in Human Constellations and The Incredible Chain of Connection, is a bronze figurine: a found object that was once possibly a cast for a doll. Stocky and headless, the figures' weight and gruffness sharply contrast to Lieberman's additions: fragile and delicate handmade lace that either forms starched disks around the 'neck', or emerges from within the hollow shape and connects to other figures.
Lace-making was, in a way, the next obvious step for Lieberman, after numerous bodies of work that took as their central concern the interconnectedness of human life and experience. The discipline takes the idea of threading together – the symbolic act which forms the central metaphor within her expression – to its most poetic end. At this stage one might be tempted to wax lyrical about Lieberman's concern with 'the ties that bind': currents of connectivity, human relation, umbilical chords, connective thread, the fabric of society and web of life; but this has been done quite sufficiently by other authors in response to Lieberman's earlier bodies of work dealing with the same theme, and much the same imagery.
In 'Human Constellations', familiar elements of the silhouette, stamp paper and the connective line again make an appearance. Lieberman has run the full gamut of this imagery and one suspects even she has lost interest by now. The works Humans Constellating and the stamp paper Human Constellations , seem mere variations of earlier works, their pallid imagery only able to chart the fact of interaction, rather than express any complexity of relation.
The Incredible Chain of Connection and You Influence Me, are sculptural manifestations of Lieberman's exploration that connect figures with line or thread, and while they are, as always, beautifully executed, they suffer from being too literal. The series of sculptural works called Human Constellations, on the other hand, starts to move away from too familiar territory, both visually and conceptually.
Balancing delicate but stiff lace disks on their torsos, the figures in Human Constellations seem to outwardly radiate 'energy'. Arranged in groups, they relate to each other; isolated, however, the figures speak more of an idea of personal influence, or agency, and a broader relationship to the world. Lieberman, speaking about the 'bronze men' in the accompanying catalogue, says she was 'interested in the breaking of boundaries, both spiritual and physical. The neck seems a perfect place to let the rest of the universe flow in... the lace connote(s) the energy between us – the paths that link us, the invisible stuff that is certainly, scientifically and mystically, all around.'
There is a strong sense of the interconnectivity that Lieberman speaks of in these works, but Human Constellations is somewhat paradoxically also an image of a self-centered constellation.
Recalling the fashionable stiff lace collars worn by a range of aristocracy, from Queen Elizabeth I to lesser known Dutch nobility, the images inevitably recall particular works within art history. The association of display, affluence and the expression of vanity, comprises another narrative of lace from which the work cannot be entirely isolated. Though Lieberman particularly notes the history of lace in her rationale 'The Lace Story' in the catalogue, this history sits uneasily within the broader reading of the work.
In many ways lace and lace-making seem interesting metaphors, or maybe suitably complicated ones, for human relationships. Yet in Lieberman's lace-making her adherence to a pattern (even if it is called Chaotic Ground) reflects an image of a decidedly structured relating – even a fatalism of sorts. This is contrary to her apparently mystical intentions with this show.
As a result one senses a myriad lost opportunities in this show. Even the exhibition title, 'Human Constellations', again emphasizes the idea of fixed points, or stability, as opposed to the fluid and evolving entity that is human relations.
'Human Constellations' is an uneven exhibition, undoubtedly marred by repetition. Nonetheless, it signals a new departure for Lieberman, and should yield an interesting starting point for her next body of work.
Opens: October 19
Closes: November 8
GALLERY AOP (Art on Paper Gallery)
44 Stanley Avenue, Braamfontein Werf (Milpark), Johannesburg
Tel: (011) 726 2234
Email: info@artonpaper.co.za
Hours: Tue - Sat 10am - 5pm
