Annette Messager Reviewed by Sohyae Lee

The works in Annette Messager’s show were unusual and somewhat different from the three-dimensional art pieces I have seen before. Everything was unique—you would never see similar pieces in any other artist’s exhibit. The movement in most of her pieces created by the fans was new. Although it was a good experience to see her exhibit, I thought it was very confusing. The exhibit seemed like a mixture of totally different things and I did not understand the purpose behind her works. Throughout the show, I asked myself why she would do such things. The way in which she put knitted clothing on birds, covered animal heads with the heads of stuffed animals, and did other bizarre things confused me. Not only this, but I realized that there was a language barrier between artists. Despite the fact that we perceive art to be a topic that connects the world, Messager’s work proved me wrong. Some of her works incorporated language that I did not understand.

The work in the show was random and unusual. Messager once stated that the world has changed her, keeping her from creating a series of artworks. There was a large range of materials used. Not only this, but the materials were put together in unusual ways. In her interview, she states “Regarding what impedes my art work, I feel that because there are more and more wars, diseases, broken homes, that everything in the world today is totally pathetic and vulnerable, I am no longer able to make a series of works. I have always worked in bits and pieces, ripping, cutting, and pasting, but today I can no longer consider working in series and this is a dramatic change for me.”

The artist seemed to be telling her audience something though her pieces, but unfortunately, I was unable to understand what she was trying to say, most of the time. Messager stated that: “We must not try too show to much, to divulge everything, to unveil too much. We must give some small clues, even unnecessary clues. Art is a secret shared between the individual and the collective.”

At the exhibit, there was a bunch of dolls, stuffed animals, fabrics, animal statues, wire or string, inflatable animals, and so on. In an interview Messager states: “I have always used materials that were in the home, colored crayons, cloth, stockings, nets, sewing material, newspaper clippings, everything that arrives into the home and stays,” further stating “by using the kinds of timeless materials-cloth, paper, crayons-that are not directly linked to today's technologies, I am interested in transcending a certain temporality.”

Annette Messager is a French contemporary installation artist who uses various mediums to create pieces of art by modifying the way gallery or even public spaces are experienced by others. Messager incorporates various materials into her pieces like any other installation artist. Most of her three-dimensional pieces seemed to have incorporated dolls, animals (especially birds), movement (fans), fabrics, books, “photography (her's and others'), drawing, knitting, embroidery, sewing and objects she has collected. All of her pieces seem to deliver a message, making her works expressive pieces.

According to the research I did, Annette Messager dealt with “issues of sexual and physical abuse, fragmentation of the body, sin, obsession with appearances, fairy tales, children, symbols, effigies, disguise, distortion, repetition.” In short, issues surrounding women.
Annette Messager was born in Berck-sur-Mer, France, on November 30, 1943. She started art at a young age, encouraged by her father who was an amateur painter. Throughout her lifetime and to the present, she has created many installations such as My Little Effigies (1988), a piece in which she hung photographs of body parts around the necks of stuffed animals, and The Pikes (1991–93), a piece in which she impaled various objects on rods. She currently lives and works in Malakoff, Paris.

Like Ann Hamilton, a famous contemporary installation artist, Annette Messager was a female artist who worked with three dimensional objects. Annette, though, worked with dolls, nets, fabrics, and photos while Hamilton worked with textiles. Not only this, but Hamilton used the aid of many others while Messager favored working alone. Despite their differences, the two female artists created many complex installation pieces with deep meanings.

My personal favorite was the “Casino,” created in 2004. “Casino” won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale in June 2005.
“Casino” is composed of red cloth, inflatable white translucent flower-shaped objects, light, wind, a wall with a rectangular hole, and many hanging black animal head cut-outs. When you first see “Casino”, all you see is red. Red cloth overflows out of the hole, pushed by air, creating a lavish mood.

The artist uses three colors; red for luxury, white for neatness and curiosity, and black for mystery, giving “Casino” depth. The soft, red cloth creates a feeling of luxury because red is usually related to celebrities and prosperity; teeming red is like teeming prosperity.
Light is incorporated in this work. When the pillows are inflated underneath the cloth, the cloth expands due to air, light shines the pillows, and the cutouts spin, a mysterious mood forms. The light reveals unknown things.

According to research, “Casino” was a tribute to the Italian fairy-tale character, Pinocchio, but I saw it in a different light. I believe that Messager wanted to show the world that people, although they look luxurious on the outside, can be mysterious and flawed on the inside when scrutinized. At first, I only saw the red and was amazed by how luxurious “Casino” looked, but when I looked closely, I saw the bizarre cutouts and as time passed I saw the inflating objects. This conveys the message that you have to look into things deeply. When you meet new people, you shouldn’t judge them by their appearances; instead, you should find out more about them. I suppose the artist created this work to change the way people see each other. We usually look at appearances, but good outsides do not always mean good insides.

I think this work has intrinsic value. Messager catches the attention of her viewers by using a bold color like red. She then conveys the message. This work lacks neither the use of the elements and principles of art nor personal expression and a major focus, and I believe it was effective in getting a message across. Although this was so, the fact that “Casino” used up continuous fanning and lighting made it a waste of energy and the fact that “Casino” was different from the rest of Messager’s exhibit confused me.