Beschreibung:

Matthew Barney CREMASTER 3: Pediment 2002 two c-prints in the artist’s acrylic frames each: 46 x 34 in. (116.8 x 86.4 cm) Left panel signed and dated "Matthew Barney 02" on the reverse. This work is number three from an edition of three plus one artist's proof.
Provenance Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York Exhibited New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Matthew Barney The Cremaster Cycle, February 13 - May 11, 2002 (another example exhibited) Literature M. Barney and B. Gladstone, Cremaster 3, New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2002, pp. 4-5 (another example illustrated) N. Spector, Matthew Barney The Cremaster Cycle, New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2002, p. 45 Catalogue Essay Cremaster 3, 2002, forms the spine of the monumental opus that is The Cremaster Cycle. It is the central chapter of the five installments, reflecting and presaging scenes from both the earlier and later cycles. It assesses all that has occurred and travels forward on the highways that are the subsequent phases, all in the quest to show how powerful the inexorable division of the sexes is. Cremaster 3, 2002, occupies a space of narcissism, folding all the other sections into its narrative structure. Set in New York City, this cycle narrates a fantastic account of the construction of the Chrysler building, which functions as the host to the inner forces at play in Cremaster 3, 2002. The characters are Hiram Abiff or the Architect (played by Richard Serra and the Entered Apprentice (played by Barney himself), both of whom are working on the creation of the building, and whose relationship is defined by betrayal and revenge. The story is one that reenacts the Masonic myth of Hiram Abiff, the purported architect of Solomon’s Temple who possessed knowledge of the mysteries of the universe. The murder and resurrection of Abiff are reenacted during Masonic initiations rites as the culmination of a three-part process through which a candidate graduates from the first degree of Entered Apprenticeship, to the second of Fellowcraft, and finally to the third of Master Mason. The prologue of Cremaster 3, 2002, is steeped in Celtic mythology and narrates the foundation of the host – the Chrysler building. As in the earlier cycles, the architecture is invested with psychological and physiological depths. The main narrative begins deep below the earth, under the foundation of the Chrysler Building, on the site of an ancient goat-burial ground. An emaciated female corpse—killed by four shots to the heart—attempts to dig her way out of the wet and mossy cavernous cave. She represents the undead Gary Gilmore, the protagonist of the previous cycle, reborn as a woman through a metamorphosis achieved by Houdini, another character from Cremaster 2, 2002. This bloodied reincarnation marks a transition from Cremaster 2 to 3, and is an omen of the evil that is to come. Unable to stand unassisted, she is carried out of her tomb by five boys and is transported to the Chrysler Building’s ornate lobby. The pallbearers deposit her in the back seat of a Chrysler Imperial New Yorker, lush with a green velvet interior. During this scene, the camera cross-cuts to images of the Apprentice troweling cement over carved fuel-tank caps on the rear chassis of five 1967 Chrysler Crown Imperials, each bearing the insignia of a Cremaster episode. Read More