Drawings: Maps and Composite Actions was Cameron Jamie’s first solo exhibition in the Netherlands.
Photo(s): Leo van Kampen
Cameron Jamie (Los Angeles 1969, lives and works in Paris) works in a variety of mediums, ranging from performance art to (video)films and photography. De Vleeshal exhibition Drawings: Maps and Composite Actions focused on Jamie’s drawings. Although the drawings feature prominently in his body of work, they had rarely been shown.
The drawings were showcased in an installation that Jamie created especially for De Vleeshal. Holding a lantern, visitors undertook a disorientating journey through a dark, mountainous landscape. Finally, they reached a valley, where the drawings were displayed.
The work featured in Drawings: Maps and Composite Actions is dark and disturbing. The drawings refer to the body, horror iconography and the San Fernando Valley where Jamie grew up. Their subjects appear to be in a zombie like state; as if they have been woken from the dead. Jamie`s style, the collage technique he employs and his use of human hair in some of the drawings suggest that the works have been created in an almost ritualistic fashion.
The drawings are the result of Jamie`s on-going series of performances Goat (2000-). As part of the performance, he returned to his place of birth in the San Fernando Valley, dressed as a vampire. Jamie was accompanied by an acquaintance, who had no idea of what was in store for him. There is no visual record of their experiences, only verbal testimonies transcribed into text. Jamie later selected extracts from these testimonies, which formed the starting point for images to be interpreted by an illustrator. The outcome of this series of interpretations is a collection of otherworldly and uncanny drawings inspired by Jamie`s performances. By documenting his performances in this unique process, Jamie has mythologized his Goat project.
exhibitions
tags: berg,
cameron jamie,
horror,
vallei,
zombie
