The Eyes Have It

Depending on how you look at these exhibitions, you can get a lot or very little

By Alfredo Triff
Article Published Feb 14, 2002

Don't miss "Le Chateau del Pueblo," David Rohn's installation next to Dorsch Gallery, that the artist sees as "a statement on the proliferation of consumption in contemporary life." Rohn has created a surprising interior narrative, built upon the idea that "from the notion that you're what you drive follows that you are where -- or how -- you live." He then invites us into a crackhouse-turned-decorated-middle-class model for sale.

First there's decorating, a metaphor for self-expression, narcissism, vanity, and ambition. Rohn uses this as an apt symbol of our culture's collective soul -- that is, who we want to be versus what we actually have and use.

To guide us through the showroom is Gretchen Bender, a dignified, transvestite real estate agent played by Rohn. Bender's wit adds complexity to what may seem a superficial political message about material voracity. "So many of the things we do are related to transformation," Rohn tells us. "People believe they can change themselves to become something else." But he is not necessarily convinced: "On the other hand, Bender may represent the opposite, that is, the industry's necessity to sell this image that is no more."

Our culture's need for self-expression and simulation is exploited by Rohn's pitch of French sophistication. "People go back to Europe to look for an environment of elegance and comfort they think they'll never find where they are." Hence naming places Versailles, the Fontainebleau, Les Violins. Check out David Rohn's last performance as Gretchen Bender at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 23.