Sculpture by Joachim Schönfeldt / Goodman Gallery / The Armory Show 2010 / 20100305.7D.03974-75-76.P2 / SML
Joachim Schönfeldt
Four Musicians (moo, roar, chee-ow & yeeeoh)
2010
‘… a musical piece to be performed by musicians. The backdrop is important. It is the inspiration for the composition of the musical piece, the gusto of its performance and also its “speech”.’ – Okwui Enwezor
Four Musicians (moo, roar, chee-ow & yeeeoh) is a performance and sculpture by Joachim Schonfeldt, based on the German folklore tale of the Bremen Town Musicians, as recorded by the Brothers Grimm. In the original tale, a cat, a donkey, a rooster and a dog, past the primes of their lives, leave their masters’ homes, band together and set off on an adventure to Bremen, proving that the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.
The tale has been retold and interpreted many times in popular culture (film, animation, theatre, literature) and has been represented by a number of contemporary artists (including Maurizio Cattelan).
Four Musicians (moo, roar, chee-ow & yeeeoh) the sculpture substitutes the donkey, dog, cat and rooster with taxidermied animals: an indigenous Nguni cow, a lioness and a vulture – all symbols of African pride and power. The sculpture rests on a base resembling a traditional Zulu shield, in reference to the theme of conflict and security. Schonfeldt also stacks the animals from large to small – an effective inversion of power relations.
The sculpture functions as a backdrop to a performance of original music by James French executed by four musicians stationed opposite the sculpture and playing a selection of cornet, trumpet, trombone, french horn, baritone or tuba. These wind instruments infuse or breathe life back into the inanimate objects or animals.
The artist states:
‘The piece performed by the musicians is in essence the work. I anticipate it to be a bit like the idea of ‘windjammers’, an American circus concept that describes the intensity of the music played during the climax of an act. The stuffed animals are, to a large extent, backdrop: the often mentioned augmentation in my work. The animals augment a ’speech’ here. The speech is represented by the commissioned piece of music performed by four musicians. The four blow instruments give an impression performance of the four animals (moo, roar, chee-ow & yeeoh); ‘A full breath of air’ perhaps the operative idea. The piece of music is of a circus-band nature and very intense, performed at high pace and leaving all "breathless"’.
www.goodman-gallery.com/artists/joachimsch%c3%b6nfeldt
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The Armory Show is the United States’ leading art fair devoted to the most important artworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. In its twelve years, the fair has become an international institution. Every March, artists, galleries, collectors, critics and curators from all over the world make New York their destination during Armory Arts Week.
The Armory Show 2010 also features The Armory Show – Modern, specializing in modern and secondary market material on Pier 92. Pier 94 continues to be a venue to premiere new works by living artists. With one ticket, visitors to The Armory Show on March 4–7, 2010 have access to the latest developments in the art world, and to the masterpieces which heralded them.
Piers 92 and 94 on 55th Street and 12th Avenue, NYC
March 4-7, 2010
Sculpture by Joachim Schönfeldt / Goodman Gallery / The Armory Show 2010 / 20100305.7D.03974-75-76.P2 / SML
Joachim Schönfeldt
Four Musicians (moo, roar, chee-ow & yeeeoh)
2010
‘… a musical piece to be performed by musicians. The backdrop is important. It is the inspiration for the composition of the musical piece, the gusto of its performance and also its “speech”.’ – Okwui Enwezor
Four Musicians (moo, roar, chee-ow & yeeeoh) is a performance and sculpture by Joachim Schonfeldt, based on the German folklore tale of the Bremen Town Musicians, as recorded by the Brothers Grimm. In the original tale, a cat, a donkey, a rooster and a dog, past the primes of their lives, leave their masters’ homes, band together and set off on an adventure to Bremen, proving that the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.
The tale has been retold and interpreted many times in popular culture (film, animation, theatre, literature) and has been represented by a number of contemporary artists (including Maurizio Cattelan).
Four Musicians (moo, roar, chee-ow & yeeeoh) the sculpture substitutes the donkey, dog, cat and rooster with taxidermied animals: an indigenous Nguni cow, a lioness and a vulture – all symbols of African pride and power. The sculpture rests on a base resembling a traditional Zulu shield, in reference to the theme of conflict and security. Schonfeldt also stacks the animals from large to small – an effective inversion of power relations.
The sculpture functions as a backdrop to a performance of original music by James French executed by four musicians stationed opposite the sculpture and playing a selection of cornet, trumpet, trombone, french horn, baritone or tuba. These wind instruments infuse or breathe life back into the inanimate objects or animals.
The artist states:
‘The piece performed by the musicians is in essence the work. I anticipate it to be a bit like the idea of ‘windjammers’, an American circus concept that describes the intensity of the music played during the climax of an act. The stuffed animals are, to a large extent, backdrop: the often mentioned augmentation in my work. The animals augment a ’speech’ here. The speech is represented by the commissioned piece of music performed by four musicians. The four blow instruments give an impression performance of the four animals (moo, roar, chee-ow & yeeoh); ‘A full breath of air’ perhaps the operative idea. The piece of music is of a circus-band nature and very intense, performed at high pace and leaving all "breathless"’.
www.goodman-gallery.com/artists/joachimsch%c3%b6nfeldt
+++
The Armory Show is the United States’ leading art fair devoted to the most important artworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. In its twelve years, the fair has become an international institution. Every March, artists, galleries, collectors, critics and curators from all over the world make New York their destination during Armory Arts Week.
The Armory Show 2010 also features The Armory Show – Modern, specializing in modern and secondary market material on Pier 92. Pier 94 continues to be a venue to premiere new works by living artists. With one ticket, visitors to The Armory Show on March 4–7, 2010 have access to the latest developments in the art world, and to the masterpieces which heralded them.
Piers 92 and 94 on 55th Street and 12th Avenue, NYC
March 4-7, 2010