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TONY OURSLER |
Engaging, scary, irritating, funny, troubling, annoying, and entertaining are all words that have been used to describe the sculptural videos of Tony Oursler. By combining video, sculpture, installation, and sound, Oursler creates a human presence that whines, complains, threatens, and laments in ongoing monologues issuing from doll-like dummies, disembodied heads, and weird alien forms. The scripts he writes for these creatures arise from everyday conversation, random speech, and what Oursler calls "the undertow of language," that is, the talking that happens in your head when you are alone. As a product of the first generation raised on television, Oursler uses video and other technologies to make artworks that evoke the human condition in the media age.
In 1991 Tony Oursler discovered a new video technology that allowed him to project images onto objects rather than being confined to the television screen – a breakthrough that has become a hallmark of his art. Junk is one of a new series of pieces he made in 2003 using biomorphic fiberglass shapes on which he projects rolling eyes and big mouths that talk incessantly. While Oursler often records the faces and voices of collaborators, in this work the voice and body parts are his own. This alien-hybrid creature entices viewers fascinated by the four, eerie, disembodied eyes around a large and vocal mouth, while the rambling monologue causes one to linger and listen. By making sculptures that talk, Oursler’s work demands attention and engages us in ways that are at odds with more passive approaches to looking at art.
- Jennifer Bayles, Educator for Special Projects