REVIEW
OF INCIDENT AT WAL-MART, OR WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER
FROM THE EXHBITION IN WESTERN NEW YORK 2002
THE ALBRIGHT-KNOX ART GALLERY, BUFFALO, NEW YORK
BUFFALO NEWS, AUGUST 11, 2002
(Excerpted from the orginial article)
CITY HAUL: A NEW EXHIBITION PROVES THAT DESPITE ITS SHORTCOMINGS, WESTERN
NEW YORK IS A TREASURE TROVE OF LOCAL ARTISTS
The
regional gloom can actually provide artistic sustenance for some of
these artists. The sad character in Lara Odell's touching and uncomfortably
humorous video, "Incident at Wal-Mart, or Where's My Daughter,"
may be an example. Played by renowned Buffalo-based poet (and now actor)
Charles Bernstein, this weary, slightly disoriented man in a raincoat
wanders into the local Wal-Mart and walks the aisles, picking up this
or that piece of merchandise and studying it as if he were new to the
planet. All the while he mutters to himself—something about his
runaway daughter, about how he's got to get her some gifts because she
really needs them. Finally, he goes to the counter and somewhat desperately
asks for a gift certificate. Only thing is, nobody's there to hear him.
He's talking to himself.
This poignant character could be any American cipher unhinged by the
pressures of modern life. But the chronically depressed of our unfair
city might relate more pointedly. Sitting in the video-viewing room—sadistically
outfitted by the gallery with two big, backless benches—itself
is a reminder that Buffalonians were born to suffer.
No gallery visitor particularly likes to leave the natural upright viewing
position, the light, and the friendly faces of fellow art lovers and
to slouch into a darkend room designed for a race of latter-day Spartans.
But do it. The marvelous video selections reveal—perhaps more
so than the non-moving art outside—the various and curious pathways
our artists follow.
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