The room is left wide and open, the church breaths fine, two spot lights light the room, one pink one orange hauling the colour format of Blade Runner 2049. three volcanic rocks are splayed apart, the back wall of the gallery hosts shelves stacking in jewellery-fashion the convulsed 3D prints of this poor Jerry figure deployed in the video work Poor Poor Jerry; it is seen in the video so what point is there in seeing diminutive mimesis’ of the mouse; a device of banal repetition.
No doubt what dominates the exhibition is the video Poor Poor Jerry, looping at six minutes it is a cordially accessible video piece to engage in, accessible because of its basic references of American 50’s love music and nostalgic protagonist - the CGI-animated pathos leaking, melancholic, capricious mouse, referencing the mouse from Tom and Jerry.
The mouse drifts along in this empty, desolate, tropical summit – Lanzarote, relaying two voices of two lovers whether self-consciously or externally, it is not so much articulated, but the articulation of language here is not the point of the work and the addition of subtitles supports Martino’s subsidising of language. No, what is in focus here is the approach to love and narrative, love of narrative, maybe? Seemingly the mouse confesses something of disparate love or broken love through references and psychological triggers of sensitivities. At one point in the video it is heard, and remember the dreary monochromatic setting;
“I love you Jack” said by a female voice, followed by,
“I love you Chicken” male voice.
Martino has levelled the sensitivity of the viewer to one so vulnerable that it becomes no longer readable, intellectualizable, but, simply, felt, simply spectated on where one can forget oneself. At this point, the video functions as a form of escapism, which, for sure, is the primary value of capitalistic culture. Thus, what Martino has here created, aware or not, is a moment to forget about reality. And it was inevitable considering her choice of sampling, as whom has stylized and conditioned love more than America with the 50’s monochromatic films, male-female archetypes and Sinatra. Though, it could also be a ploy to critique the capitalistic nature of churning escapist culture as Warhol had played the role, but there is not enough intelligible sign to indicate so.
Though I do have to give credit as the video piece does achieve its expressive intentions. There are enough emotive layers that evoke sustainable levels of pathos – gloom, longing, pain, irony and stoicism, at least, a solitary stoicism to keep going after the heart is smashed to fragments. I find that the deploy of irony sits this work in the current mode of metamodernism; it is so because of the abrupt jump cuts (almost in Jean-Luc Goddard fashion) of the lonesome droning walks of Poor Jerry, where the caricature is seen limping his body in a sad sampled monologue; the video is butchered to a scene of different engagement, as to give the impression of indifference to this Poor caricature, almost condescending his feelings as something trivial not worth the viewer’s viewing. This is further reinforced by the jocularity of the caricature, he is seen dancing piously, looping his hips round and round, thus giving him a maniac air, like that of Poe. Funny somewhat.
The medium of the video does its job. However it only does so because of its time, it is the typical “contemporary” route. The difficult route of expressing a work like this would be to collect these emotions and have them scrutinized in a tangible corporeal form - look at Andrea Fraser, Projection, 2008.
In full view of the exhibition, two of the three works are unnecessary, the video provides the viewer with enough comprehension and engagement with the pathos of Poor Poor Jerry that the 3D printed glitches and asteroid rocks become subservient props, more so the asteroid rocks, they sit without any gravity of attention negating any potential sculptural value and transforming them into static extras, thus justifying their existence to nothing but mere atmosphere support. As for the 3D printed glitches, I cannot help but believe them to be nothing but vapid commodities recycling material from the video. It also does not help convince me of their integrity as works of art by their shelving.
Poor Poor Jerry is an adequate show in exercising sentimental and nostalgic feelings, maybe a thing needed in the age of chronic screen activity, however, the sensorial engagement is buried in a fictional coffin, there will only be so much connection with an animated thing no matter how many psychological cues are layered for evocation. What would have helped pass the limits of this exhibition would be if Martino were to approach the investigation of the human condition by its primary form and not in the vogue, as evident by Lu Yang, Ed Atkins, Jordan Wolfson, et cetera. Thus, it must be said that the exhibition is of findable quality, if missed, then no doubt, there will be another exhibition of this inch.