In her second solo exhibition at Lehmann Maupin’s Hong Kong outpost, Jennifer Steinkamp’s immersive video art coaxes us to look within ourselves.

TEXT: Christie Lee
IMAGES: Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong

There is risk to making art that is too ‘pretty’ in the 21st century. After all, much of modern art is about breaking away from representations of the ideal beauty towards the human experience, which, as we know, isn’t only good, but also bad and ugly. Jennifer Steinkamp’s art is very beautiful. A pioneer in 3D animation art, the American artist is known for a technically exquisite oeurve that defies easy art historical classification. While some of her works reminds one of Dutch and Flemish still life paintings, others are reminiscent of 1960s abstract expressionist works. At the heart of them all appear to be desire to render nature in its perfect state.

The artist uses 3D modeling software and Photoshop to draw, paint and animate individual elements in her works. The results are hypnotizing tapestries that toe the line between reality and artifice. In 2014, Steinkamp made her Hong Kong debut at Lehmann Maupin with “Diaspore,” an exhibition that drew parallels between the dispersal of seeds and the phenomenon of diaspora. For her second solo exhibition at Lehmann Maupin’s Hong Kong outpost, Steinkamp presents three stunning immersive video installations that take over the gallery space and have been created for projection in response to the specific dimensions of the walls. Titled “Still-Life”, the quietly cheerful exhibition offers a sanctuary from the hustle of the city.

Even before entering the gallery, one’s eyes are directed past the glass doors of the gallery towards Retinal 2 (2018). The clusters of amorphous colourful blobs and ribbons recall, the press release says, ‘acidic coloration of candy,’ but the caption reveals them to be depictions of optical veins. And thus, nature and the man-made, the artificial and the human coalesce.

At the back of the gallery is Still-Life (2016–19). As the name implies, the work takes direct inspiration from 1960s Dutch and Flemish still life paintings yet gives the fruits the animated treatment. Apples, lemons and pears, perfectly contoured and coloured, float across the canvas, their seeds spilling out in bountiful glee, suddenly the frame freezes, the animation rewinds, and the entire process begins again.

Meanwhile, Blind Eye 2 (2019) depicts a pair of birch trees through the four seasons, where extending branches pierces the dark background, and leaves multiply on the tree, which is swaying, at times gently, at times fiercely, until all the leaves fall. And then the cycle begins again. The work is part of Blind Eye (2018), a larger piece comprising a suite of birch trees, inspired by those outside the Clark Art Institute in the United States where Steinkamp held a major exhibition last year. Of the three pieces on display in “Still-Life,” Blind Eye 2 is perhaps the most mesmerizing, in part perhaps because there does appear to be notions of life and death, though like the other two, the animation never stops. One could just stare at it all day, until the leaves become like eyes, and we’re slightly taken aback by the shift—quite literally—in perspective, as if we’re the objects that the art is looking at. At one point, the tree behaves less like a tree, more like the personalization of human emotions in all its sweetness, fury, desolation and hope.

And perhaps that’s why Steinkamp’s art touches us. For the artist, aesthetics dominates academic jargons. Her art doesn’t attempt to force intellectual analysis upon its viewers—as with so much of contemporary art—but rather stun us with its beauty. And yet, the more time you spend in front of it, the more you realize that her art goes beyond being a pretty canvas. Her art is a reflection on the cyclical nature of life, as a critique of how technology has accelerated contemporary life. Just as the Dutch and Flemish still life paintings were never just about the faithful reproduction of beautiful objects, but instead addresses the way human beings view their objects, the exuberance and recurring nature of Steinkamp’s animations appear to point to certain human experiences.

Jennifer Steinkamp: Still-Life
19 September – 26 October, 2019
Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong