Estrangement

The definition of estrangement

Upon first considering what this word meant, I immediately thought of the expression ‘estranged relative’ or ‘estranged friend.’ Although I did not know exactly what the word estrangement meant, I did know that the undertones of the word estranged were more negative than positive. I thought of every instance where I’d heard this word ‘estranged’ used and many times it was a case where a relative or friend was separated for an undesired reason or act.

Venturing to find a more grounded definition, I discovered that my initial thought was, in fact, true. Estrange is a verb. Many words to describe estrange are negative in connotation such as alienate, separate, unfriendly, or hostile.

A related form of estrange is estrangement, which is a noun. In looking into the meaning of estrangement, I found that this word is used to connote an idea of novelty or bizarreness. Freud used the word estrangement in explaining a sensation or experience that is at its apex when confronted by the re-acquaintance of a familiar object that has been forgotten or repressed for a considerable amount of time.

So, estrangement could be described as the feeling that you might have when you open that box in your attic or when you crack open that old chest with the layer of dust on top. As you riffle through memorabilia from your childhood, forgotten or repressed memories from many years ago come rushing back. I, personally, have felt estrangement while visiting my parents’ house in Pine, AZ. I moved away from home over ten years ago and each time I visit, I re-visit my ‘memorabilia chest’ of albums, yearbooks, and old letters. I agree with the definition of estrangement, in that it is a bizarre feeling to have so many powerful memories and ‘ghosts’ re-visit my current-day-word, the second I re-acquaint myself with those memories.

The Theatre of the Absurd, Bertolt Brecht … and how they relate to estrangement

The Theatre of the Absurd originated from Post WWII, through avant-garde experiments. This style of theater was created in order to engage the audience on an intellectual level. This form of theater stems from the creation of epic theater, created by Bertolt Brecht.

Bertolt Brecht

Brecht created an “alienation effect” for his audiences which would engage the audience, into actively thinking through a theater performance. This style was very different from “Aristotelian” drama, which held the audience in a trance-like state to the point of self-oblivion.

In order to keep the audience engaged and not entranced in the play, tactics were used such as: broad comedy mixed with horrific imagery, repetitive or meaningless actions, flooding the stage with harsh white light, leaving the stage lamps in full view of the audience, and making use of minimal props. As with the Dada movement, Brecht’s movement represented the opposite of traditional theatre aesthetics and was considered a type of anti-art.

Brecht’s aim was to estrange not only the actors from their roles, but also to estrange the audience from falling into a mindless trance-like viewership. Estrangement is inevitable with this style of theater as the audience participants are pulling underlying or hidden thoughts to the surface. Like riffling through the memory chest, Theatre of the Absurd brought resurfaced memories, no matter how disturbing or bizarre, to the surface.

Andrew Wodzianski: Current-Day Use of Estrangement and Alienation

Peep Show by Andrew Wodzianski

We’ve discussed the meaning of estrangement and learned about the Theatre of the Absurd and will now turn to the works of Andrew Wodzianski. Wodzianski is another artist who uses estrangement in his work.

I welcome this opportunity to learn more about Wodzianski because I’ve seen his work in person. I recall seeing one of his pieces at the 10th Annual Artomatic Show and quickly capturing a digital image of yellow iconic sugar Peeps donning long can-can legs, seen in this blog entry. The piece and even the title, “Peep Show” was humorous. However, now I’m seeing a whole new side of Wodzianski, as I consider his multiple works of mixed media.

Similar to Brecht, Wodzianski adds strange qualities to his pieces of art to create a scenario of greater interaction and engagement for the viewer (or participant). I was one of those participants while I toured the Artomatic Exhibit space on that opening night. Many exhibits were competing for my attention, and Wodzianski was one of the few that caught my eye. It was the combination of peculiar strangeness and familiar sweetness that caught my attention. Wodzianski combines unrelated elements that are utterly estranged from each other such as dinosaurs, smurfs, robots, and cowgirls. These combinations are humorous in some cases and disturbing in others. To further the impact, he uses background fill almost as prominently in space proportion as the foreground images. These background graphics are all just as well-known and recognizable as the foreground images – and equally disjointed. Even his titles leave much to consider as they add to the perplexing mix of mismatched themes.

Alexander Apóstol

Rosenthal by Alexander Apóstol.

Looking at another current day artist, Alexander Apóstol, we will consider his work of Residente Pulido. These are a series of buildings that he offers viewer to consider. They are all large industrial looking buildings with little or no windows. What openings these buildings do have, they are boarded. These buildings are placed in normal neighborhoods, whether they are residential or commercial. All buildings are neutral in color – gray, white, tan, etc – and all seem to be of a cement exterior.

Royal Copenhague by Alexander Apóstol.

Apóstol is of a younger generation that questions cliches. With further research I learned that Apóstol used digital techniques to take out all the entrances, turning these old buildings into impenetrable monuments. For Apóstol the buildings, with their closed but fragile exterior are also a metaphor for the arrogant, masculine male. His curator stated that his work stirs up subjective memories and histories as well as discussions around urbanism. According to an LA Contemporary Exhibition 2007 press release, Apóstol’s mission is to “look at the ideological failings of the past with the socio-political and economic realities of the present. In a city like Los Angeles, where early 20th century urban planning now forces us into unique patterns of metropolitan life, this type of thoughtful investigation is a key process in understanding our local environment.”

For me, I immediately thought of a barracks – a solid confined building that could protect those inside and those outside as well. A center of confinement. These are all, in my mind, negative terms. For, who in their right mind would want to be inside or live near a place that held captives inside one of these hideous buildings? I also thought immediately of the ‘end times’ since this is how I imagine life will be once Earth becomes too polluted. That’s quite an example of estranging forces.

Charles Cohen

Buff Collection, Charles Cohen.

And before we conclude, yet another artist that uses estrangement in his work is Charles Cohen. Cohen’s collection, Buff, is quite disturbing – as was Apóstol’s. Cohen takes frozen frames of pornography, and subtracts the female’s image from these scenes, leaving their white silhouette. For me, before realizing it was pornography, as the images were much smaller on the computer screen, I thought of how life is such a quick experience and quick moments such as this second in time, made the viewer really consider how fragile life is. Then, once realizing this was a porn scene and that the woman’s silhouette was in fact one of the actresses, I thought a bit differently about Cohen’s work.

Buff Collection, Charles Cohen.

It’s a frozen frame during a pornography scene. It’s taking the face off of the actresses involved. It’s simply leaving their silhouette in the scene. No noise. No movement. Only the imagination of the viewer can fill in the puzzle pieces. However, since the woman is in a pornography, I think of her as being taken from the scene, rescued in a sense. It’s almost like watching commercials without the sound on – that’s when I notice so many odd messages on the screen or notice the actors for the first time. That’s the same reaction I had with Cohen’s Buff works. It’s like I noticed for the first time, the oddity of pornography scenes, positions, and cultural obsessions.

It’s perplexing, it’s exhausting, it’s estrangement. I’m eager to create my own mixed media estrangement piece … more to come!