At Sprüth Magers gallery in Los Angeles, the exhibition The Perversion of the Visual presents a compelling retrospective of Gretchen Bender’s influential work from the 1980s. Running through August 10, 2024, this showcase explores Bender’s critical engagement with the power dynamics and brutality inherent in mass media imagery.

Gretchen Bender, a pivotal figure in late 20th-century American art, is renowned for her incisive critiques of media saturation and its psychological impacts. Her work, characterized by a fusion of sculpture, video, sound, and performance, interrogates the ways corporate imagery shapes collective consciousness. Bender’s innovative “electronic theater” installations, created during her time in New York, exemplify her pioneering approach to integrating multimedia elements into art, challenging conventional boundaries and prefiguring the immersive practices seen in contemporary art.

The exhibition highlights Bender’s early use of television and film as critical materials. Her 1980s projects, such as Wild Dead and Dumping Core, exemplify her radical approach to media critique. These multichannel video installations, showcased in New York’s discotheques and art spaces like The Kitchen, utilized rapid editing and dynamic soundscapes to examine the spectacle of media representation. Bender’s 1987 masterwork, Total Recall, further exemplifies her virtuosity, employing twenty-four monitors and three projections to create a frenetic visual symphony of media fragments.

Bender’s work also reflects her deep engagement with the socio-political ramifications of media. In People in Pain (1988), she used shiny black vinyl and blue neon to display the names of then-current films, highlighting the ephemeral nature of media and its tendency to overshadow the labor and memory that fuel it. This work underscores the rapid pace at which information—and the human effort behind it—is consumed and discarded.

The current exhibition features a selection of Bender’s seminal pieces, including Hell Raiser (1988–91) and Untitled (Daydream Nation) (1989). These works juxtapose visceral imagery with abstract forms, creating a dialogue between brutality and spectacle. Notably, Bender’s integration of footage from the Salvadoran Civil War with commercial graphics in Dumping Core indicts mainstream media’s preference for sensationalism over substantive coverage of real-world violence.

The exhibition also incorporates archival materials related to Artists Call Against US Intervention in Central America (1984), a grassroots campaign that Bender was involved in. This inclusion not only contextualizes Bender’s artistic practice within broader socio-political activism but also resonates with contemporary movements advocating for political change and accountability.

Bender’s art reflects her belief in the power of media to both captivate and manipulate. Her work critiques the seductive allure of corporate branding and the psychological effects of media representations. In her view, these images, though abstract and idealized, serve as potent symbols of corporate and political power, manipulating viewers’ perceptions and emotions.

Through her rigorous examination of media imagery, Bender’s work remains a potent commentary on the intersection of art, politics, and technology. Nearly two decades after her death, her art continues to offer incisive critiques of media’s role in shaping public consciousness and political discourse. As we navigate an increasingly mediated world, Bender’s insights into the dynamics of power and spectacle remain both relevant and thought-provoking.

Sprüth Magers
5900 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, 90036
United States

www.spruethmagers.com
Tuesday – Saturday
11pm – 6pm