Janine Gordon
- Artist Statement
- Curator Statement
- zingmagazine project
- Website
Artist Statement
Dirt: The state of being covered with unclean things
Dirt: The part of the earth’s surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock
Dirt: Gossip
Dirt: A despicable person
Dirt: Pornography
My work is a multimedia exploration of “DIRT’’. The art, from Swarovski crystal collages of words and symbols (based on “ice’’ culture—diamond jewelry) to gun drawings and photographs of New York—Brazilian gangsters, glue sniffer kids, hip-hop legends, mosh pits, and tattooed youth, comprise an examination of metaphors imploring power, death, fear, hate, and shock. The poetic investigation of the definition of “Dirt” that is referenced is that of physical dirt—the endless dirt from the Brazilian photography laboratories on my negatives, the dirt from Randalls Island, and the dirt on the unshowered Chera Colas in Sao Paulo—and of what society considers its “dirt’’ (gangsters, rappers, moshers, the indigent).
Chera Colas de Teatro Municipal, Anjagabaju, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Down the street from me was the newly renovated Teatro Municipal, Anjagabaju in Sao Paulo, 2003, where a group of approximately 20-30 runaway children (ages 5-16) from the favelas made a Never-Never Land mini-favela, utilizing boxes and blankets to formulate their home. They were able to keep their home for about 5 weeks before the local police beat them, occasionally threw 8-9 kids at a time in their cars to bring to juvenile prison, or chased them away for a short while. I befriended the kids and often fed them, since rarely did anyone help. (The main reason they sniffed glue was because of the hunger they felt, sometimes not eating for 5 days). Eventually, a year later, the kids were “removed”.
The mosh pits from Randalls Island, NYC, have an incredible amount of dirt that gets kicked up from the earth, which was a former landfill. The frequent concert-goers to Randalls Island are familiar with this situation, and often prepare themselves with bandanas or dust masks. Moshing is potentially fatal and is one of the most violent and dirtiest dances that youth culture embraces today.
The “ABC’’ mosh pit occurred at ABC no Rio on Rivington Street, NYC, 2004 during “The Profits” show, when my boyfriend at the time, Malik, was dancing around, not hurting anyone, and this psycho fascist kept pushing anyone who happened to have dark skin. I warned Malik of this crazy bully, but the weirdo continually pushed him. His black dreadlocked band members, from Game Reunion, had since shown up and witnessed Malik being assaulted, and immediately Nedick, Yohimbe, and T-Bone retaliated.
Finally, “Hip Hop Collection Volume 1” is a collection of hip hop legends and upcoming poets who spit “dirt” beyond belief. Remy Ma, Busta Rymes, Guru, Public Enemy and MOP, Jean Grae, C-Rayz Walz, and the dark silhouette of the somber Raekwon, who was singing a eulogy concert for Old Dirty Bastard. All of these recording artist are rappers who put their dirt out there for everyone to hear!
Curator Statement
Janine Gordon’s work addresses a particular stealth violence and sexual candor that is specific to adolescent males (or post adolescent male yearning) as they relate to their peers at male-oriented events, their role within that sociological tier, and their individuality. Gordon mitigates the atmosphere in the boxing gym, the dirt bike competition, and the Lalapalooza-type music festival. The pieces in the Dikeou Collection focus on the punk/rock/grunge concert moment, and that extremely trepid, yet violent happening known as the Mosh Pit. As a female, Gordon enters this very closed male system and photographs her subjects, really in situ, as they rebel rouse, dance, fight, congregate, urinate, punch, sing, spit, scream, and gesticulate. Capturing these movements, she is not unlike a sports photographer, who through unnerving position, allows us to see the fury, the motion, the aggression, the camaraderie, the unity, and the spirit of a team/teenage life, angst, and revolution — the culmination of an age, gender, and event specific relationship. Like the filmmaker, Penelope Spheeris, whose The Decline of Civilization documents this extraordinary punk lifestyle, Gordon pulls the curtain, revealing that after 60 years of rock and roll, the stories are just as fascinating, just as wicked, just as much teen anthems as “Teenage Wasteland,” “Pour Some Sugar On It,” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
