Time and Jean-Luc Mylayne

When I was studying in Europe, I aspired to live in London so I could visit their museums daily. I envisioned myself sitting on a bench, spending time with one work of art per visit and then leaving, thinking only of that piece. I never did this because museums where I have lived were never free, until I attended graduate school at the UW; that year, I visited 150 Works of Art in this fashion as often as I could. Not that all art shouldn’t be viewed with intense frequency, but there are certain works and exhibitions that ask for more of one’s time in person than others.

Jean-Luc Mylayne strikes me as another exhibition that I should visit as often as possible. I have been working with digital reproductions of

 

No. 186,

 No. 320,

 and No. 368

 for several weeks, sending them out to media inquiries and preparing image CDs for the press. The Jean-Luc Mylayne catalogue has also been residing in our office for quite some time. All of these images look nice, and in them I can see the dynamics of society and environment, mirroring effects, and other elements. However, the complexity of Mylayne’s art is far from apparent until one lingers with the actual works for a stretch of time. This sounds typical, even cliche, of contemporary art in general, but this effect is essentially embedded in each of the images; time is as integral to viewing them as it was to their creation.

Jean-Luc Mylayne likes us to look at his images without always considering the highly elaborate process he has engaged in, and in the beginning they may even look effortless: open fields, birds mid-flight or perched in a cactus bush. However, spending time with them can reveal a carefully composed scene of calculated areas of focus and birds easy to anthropomorphize as they take their places singing, mocking, or gazing wistfully into space. Through these scenes and expressions, as optimistic as they often seem, Mylayne’s birds remind me of the honeybees, amphibians and other indicator species: wise and aware of something unknown to the rest. 

But this may all change the next time around.  Try it yourself- you’ll like what you see.

Images:

Jean-Luc Mylayne. No 186, January February 2004. C-Print. Courtesy of the artist and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York.  

Jean-Luc Mylayne. No 320, April May 2005. C-Print. Courtesy of the artist and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York.

Jean-Luc Mylayne. No 368, February March 2006. C-Print. Courtesy of the artist and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York.