Clifford Owens: Performance Art at the Edge of Transgression
That controversial work followed a 'score' by Kara Walker, one of 26 Black artists that Owens asked to contribute written or graphical instructions for a performance series he called 'Anthology.' Walker's score began, 'French kiss an audience member.' He stopped before the next part: 'Force them against a wall and demand sex.' Walker has said she intended the score only as a provocative hypothetical. But Owens took it there.
Three pieces were scheduled for the opening night of the Kordansky show, a 20-year survey of performances and performance documents curated by Jay Gorney and cheekily titled 'I'm New Here.' Each, in its way, involved the viewers — forced them either to respond, or decide not to.
But Owens, 54, older and perhaps wiser, has found ways to transgress other than violating people's personal space. The night's first performance dealt in mild scatological humor as the artist dipped a finger into a jar of peanut butter and made a come-hither gesture with his dirty digit. (No one took the bait.) In the third, Owens, accompanied by a drummer, recited the lyrics of Bill Callahan's song 'I'm New Here,' pacing through the gallery and yelling in lucky people's faces.
Self-conscious, toothless, a bit sappy. This is what transgressive performance art looks like now. Owens's show feels nostalgic for a kind of edginess and shock that's no longer possible, or desirable. For one thing, over the past 15 years, consent has become more important than an artist's free expression. For another, it's hard to be radical when your audience expects it. On the wall is a pair of photographs of Owens in a cloud of white dust (performing an 'Anthology' score by Nsenga Knight); he has a mohawk and is wearing black leather as if to say: I am a transgressive artist. One who has looked into the abyss of true violation but ultimately stepped back.
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