Lan Tuazon (Filipino, b. 1976). Copula: Thumb Hospital, 2011. Wood, leather, plastic, 11⁄4 x 11⁄4 x 21⁄4 in. (3 × 3 × 6 cm). Courtesy of the artist
Lan Tuazon (Filipino, b. 1976). Copula: Thumb Hospital, 2011. Wood, leather, plastic, 11⁄4 x 11⁄4 x 21⁄4 in. (3 × 3 × 6 cm). Courtesy of the artist
Lan Tuazon (Filipino, b. 1976). Emulation: Double Index (installation view; center), 2011. Maple wood. Courtesy of the artist
The artifact Pair of Clappers in Form of Human Hands is a musical instrument that appears to mimic the act of clapping, giving both the appearance and sound of two hands coming together. Emulating these properties, Tuazon created Double Index.
Lan Tuazon (Filipino, b. 1976). Monument to Museum Preservation and Collection, 2011. Wood, linen, Plexiglas. Courtesy of the artist
Lan Tuazon (Filipino, b. 1976). Sympathy: The False Arms for Rhampsinitus (installation view; center), 2011. Walnut wood. Courtesy of the artist
Sculptural combines are small-scale pieces created to be placed next to artifacts in the Museum’s Egyptian collection. Each sculpture presents a formal interpretation of the corresponding artifact’s conceptual content, according to one of seven types of relationships, or “resemblances.”
The artist made this sculptural combine in sympathy for the ancient King Rhampsinitus, who, according to myth, repeatedly lost treasures to a cunning thief. The king sent his daughter to the village to prostitute herself to any man who had information on the criminal. Hearing this, the thief purchased a pair of false arms, which he draped over his own before confessing his misdeeds to the princess. She bound his false arms and dragged him to the king, but the thief escaped. Admitting the intelligence of the trick, Rhampsinitus proclaimed his adversary to be the smartest man in Egypt. The thief then presented himself and was awarded the princess’s hand in marriage.
Raw/Cooked: Lan Tuazon
November 4, 2011–January 15, 2012
The second exhibition in the Raw/Cooked series presents Bushwick-based artist Lan Tuazon. Her three-part project, On the Wrong Side of History, challenges the reasoning behind museum classification and display. Dispensing with chronology and origin as the primary frames of organization, Tuazon returns to a pre-modern system of classification in which objects are grouped together by thematic relationships and similarities of function, investigating the possibility of finding new meanings in the Museum’s collection.
The first part of the exhibition is a site-specific work constructed from wood platforms and plexiglas vitrines formerly used to display and protect art. The second part includes three ink drawings; each depicts a reordered selection of objects from the Museum’s collection, exploring an alternative approach to museum organization. Part three comprises seven “sculptural combines” created to be displayed alongside artifacts within the third-floor Egyptian galleries. The sculptures interpret each artifact’s conceptual content, according to one of seven types of relationships, or “resemblances,” and are accompanied by short explanatory texts.
Tuazon received a B.F.A. from Cooper Union in 1999 and an M.F.A. from Yale University in 2002. She was recommended for Raw/Cooked by advisory board member Michael Joo.
Raw/Cooked is organized by Eugenie Tsai, John and Barbara Vogelstein Curator of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum.
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