NINA RODIN
CAVIAR, SKIN AND UNSOLVED SYSTEMS

VERNISSAGE JANUARY 22, 6-10 PM
Exhibition by appointment January 15th to February 13th, 2019

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Caviar, Skin and unsolved Systems

by Amrita Dhillon

Systems as Art
According to Rodin, science is ineffectual as an original mode of expression but supplies a rich source of mate- rial and methods. Some of these, including numbering, archiving, imaging devices such as microscopes or x-ray viewing boxes, labelling, ordering, systematic analysis, appear regularly in her work. While the process may at times seem cold, calculated and repetitive, it simply expresses a visceral desire to know the material completely.
The origami arrangement featured in Categories of Near-infinite Permutations uses organic systems to explore human expression. Based on a phyllotaxic Fibo- nacci spiral, which is mathematical distribution found in nature (for example in the seeds of a sunflower), the arrangement has two important properties in this context: one, that the different elements are equally spaced from one another, the other is that you can make a perfectly circular arrangement out of any number of elements. thus there is always space for one more.
The multitude of colours in her work often come about through an effort to use ‘one of each’ — a democratic approach to colour whether it be in the form of tubes of acrylic, origami paper, or fabric. Rodin uses colour sys- tematically, working in the tradition of colour theorists such as Paul Klee and Joseph Albers, who also attemp- ted to use colour scientifically, but combining certain hues to induce specific emotional effects. In Self-Portrait with two Failed Projects, her crochet blanket features a colour system similar to Klee’s six-part rainbow-shaped colour wheel, which placed complementary colours in relation to each other, based on his theory of dynamic transitions. Rodin’s system, however, does not order colours or rank them emotionally: colour is used more as in scientific illstrations to distinguish data point.
In After the Party and the Clothes Project, Rodin uses systematic chronicling to explore the tension between in- dividuality and conformity. In the former, she attempts to restore the individual character of every tree planted in the monotonous commercial forest by assigning each one a unique colour. In the latter, the Clothes Project, her series of images reveal a single individual’s desire to assume different identities through constantly changing clothing, and the reality that beneath the costume, we remain unchanged.

Painting as Subject
According to Rodin, painting harbours a myriad pos- sibilities despite its historical and physical constraints. It is taken as matter for scientific study in her practice, much as the brain is the object of study in neuroscience, or the universe is the matter of study in astrophysics — two subjects in which she has previously done research and published in.
Stuffed symbolises her discomfort with the historicity of painting, how old it is, how gestures are increasingly repeated, and how being a painter in the contempo- rary art scene can be seen as stuffy and staid. By han- ging Stuffed next to Wild Caviar we see two different perspectives on painting. One work is — in the artist’s own words — a bit defeatist, ridiculous, pathetic, clow- nish. the other, Wild Caviar, fully embraces painting it its most glorious form. the first explores Rodin’s rela- tionship with painting through the mind, intellectually, while the other is about her relationship through the sensual body: unmediated, direct.

The Body as Canvas
Both Stuffed and Wild Caviar draw painting out from the confines of the two-dimensional plane, and onto the body, where it most directly touches the senses. In the latter, circular formats are used, which refer to both the microscope and telescope. here, the intimate and private drama of paint on skin is nevertheless frank in its physicality. In this regard Rodin writes:

‘Skin is the surface, flesh is the vaguer, live, pulsating entity. there is desire for something inside and visceral, dripping, sloshing. Paint is like a body fluid: snot, spit, blood, sweat and shit. unctuous and attractive. And a messy thing of revulsion.’

— a perspective reminiscent of the vienna Actionism and specifically hermann Nitsch, who used paint in combination with the body, in order to bring painting closer to the human experience.

Fashion and the Future
When seen in the current context of the climate crisis, Nina Rodin’s work takes on an interesting dimension. On the one hand she acknowledges the need for hu- man expression through costuming and play — essen- tially fashion. On the other hand, we no longer live in a time when human hands truly craft the clothes we adorn ourselves in. Furthermore, we have lost our connection to material almost entirely.
Looking back, there was another important time in his- tory when similar concerns were being discussed: the Arts and Crafts movement at the turn of the century. Increasing industrialisation and urbanisation caused such misery among the working classes, and so much alienation from hand-work in the general population, that some artists began to champion a new way of living where they tried to make everything themselves. this included clothing, furniture, tools etc.
Rodin’s work is a reminder that we might need another make-Do-And-mend generation if we are to survive the coming climate crisis. We may need a new out- look on objects, where we cherish the hard work and intellect that is used to create them, as well as revive a long-term commitment to our objects — instead of the ever-changing trends that end up in landfills around the world, poisoning our planet.

The video Pink Green Caviar by Marilyn Minter is the inspiration for this photographic series and the video shown in the peephole installation. the full title of the video is: addictive, alluring, attractive, colourful, crazy, crusty, delicious, dripping, drooling, explosive, filthy, fleshy, fluid, heavy, hot, irrational, irreverent, luscious, messy, muddy, oozing, pasty, private, repulsive, sensual, serious, sexy, shitty, silky, slimy, sloshing, snotty, splashing, unctuous, violent, visceral, wild caviar. Caviar refers to the indulgent luxurious aspect of paint. this is Rodin’s all-in exploration of the most un-scientific part of her practice. though the round aperture references both the microscope and the telescope.

Inspired by an encounter with the work of 17th century artist-scientist Maria Sybilla Merian who travelled to Surinam in 1699 to make painstaking watercolours of every species of butterflies that she encountered, Rodin uses one of her compositions combined her own collection - her photographic archive of painted marks - to produce a natural History of Painting. a one-of-each approach in the tradition of elemental scientific data collection which is more symptomatic of wonder than of real understanding but seeks a deep communion with the object of study.