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Bo I. Cavefors
Martin Bladh and the Truths
Truths are seldom unitary. When Martin Bladh confronts violence, pain and blood with naked bodies, the first impression might be that he seeks attention by using controversial methods. That he walks in the same footsteps as Hermann Nitsch; between the cruelty of beauty and disgust. But to look through such a narrow angle would be deceitful, although Bladh confesses his kinship with Nitsch when he in an article in the publication Heterogénesis (No. 50-51, 2005) with the title 010804, 14.00 – Castle Prinzendorf´s Chapel (First floor) writes: “It’s the cameras duty to immortalise the beauty of the passion, just like the great painter’s of old time”. However Bladh is considerably more radical in his attitudes and becomes more straightforward than Nitsch when it comes to confront violence with the beautiful, to see the beauty in the body of the beast; I understand Bladh as more related to Francis Bacon than to Nitsch, and most obvious to Bacon’s religious inspired queer art. What Bacon in a photographic manner perceives as the truth and tries to capture with paint and brushes, Bladh transforms into action, on stage and video.
In an action work (Deadringer 2) Martin Bladh is inspired by the mid panel in Francis Bacon’s triptych Three Studies for a Crucifixion (1962). Bacon has painted a naked, homosexual man lying on a bed. The figure differs remarkably from the classic catholic iconography, but the painting is still obviously traditional in the traditional sense of the word. Although the man on the picture is historically abstracted Bacon shows a figure, a man that visualizes how even an existentially modern human is incarnated in the eternal process of love, violence and suffering. Incarnation through pain and death, through sexual action and rest. Is the man on Bacon’s painting crucified, taken down and laid on lit de parade or is he resting after being whipped and fucked? The baconian red nuance reoccurs in Bladh’s Deadringer 2. The blood red paint on Bacon’s walls have transformed into “actual” blood which runs through a tube to the actor in Bladh’s action work, from a blood container, into the actor’s/man’s mouth, that fills up fast, the blood runs from the mouth and nose, drenches the bed that he lies on. It is a subtle way of Bladh to transform the Bacon painting to his own work. And besides, Bladh has something which Bacon lacks, accompanying, subtle, slow masturbating music as well, for example Sebastian (IRM. Virgin Mind, 2002). The spectators have to confront the philosophic and religious challenge to walk away with their own private vision. And follow up questions? Why isn’t Bladh’s man that receives the blood transfusion naked? Why is there no direct sexual connection between the queer Bacon’s naked man and Bladh’s sexually neutral man, with pants drawn up to his navel? Bladh won’t give any concrete answers to diffuse questions; which of course is impossible. But he gives us clues of violence and sexuality. In these video- and action works there’s reminiscences of Greek mythology and Christian resurrection drama, dionysic exhibitionism and Jesus Christ’s suffering and crucifixion. It’s about the ability, the art of enduring. Through this art of indurations, in the ability of enjoying pain, there is attraction and grandeur. After the excess the beautiful rest. Bladh reconstructs a renaissance aestheticism, a sadomasochistic ritual teaching which follows the instincts and insight instead of the intellect. When Bladh in the video work Exhibit A lets a real young and true-hearted boy transform into a boy soldier, is it a brutal image of many boys reality, a reality that not have to be the soldiers, but which shows how the vulnerable- and blossoming sexuality can be lead into the bourgeoisie societies norm of non-acceptable ways, but functioning through the boys own reality, as sadomasochism, exhibitionism etc. Towards the end of Bladh’s video the boy spreads his legs and offers his cock as a logo for his personality. The same thing happens in Exhibit B, but with the anus as the main subject. There are no valid intellectual arguments which can approve of this transformation, but with the transformation from being the used into being the abuser comes the cruel recipe of instinct and insight. And who would claim that the boy who’s being fucked by a man or the boy whom in the role of the soldier rapes other boys, wouldn’t enjoy being the one who “takes it” or the one that “gets back”. In Talk Show Bladh shows a young boy, with bandages wrapped around war injuries, almost naked, with a vaguely erect cock. The boy picks up a pair of scissors, and the spectator’s first impression is that he’s going to hurt himself, maybe castrate himself, but instead with trembling hands the boy starts to cut away the pubic hair which is visible above the edge of the bandage, to tidy up his appearance, to make the smooth body even more sexually attractive. In Talk Show 3; Off Stage the boyish body returns, now with clearly explicit signs of the cracks from the sadomasochistic whip. Bladh’s at the same time painfully and sexually pleasurably inciting triptych can be seen as a illustration to the quotation (5:29:30) where the evangelist Matthew speaks that it’s better to lose an eye or a hand then to have the whole body thrown into Gehenna. With other words, forsake that which is not essential, protect you solitude, your inaccessibility, because it is only through that naked position that you might access your freedom. Forsake conveniences and fortune which is reached through social terms; forsake the sexual variations imposed by the public opinion, because the real reality gives so much more, beauty and pain, tranquillity and ecstasy. “For some pain and blood are associated with death, but for others they are associated with birth” (Armando R. Favazza).
Martin Bladh knows a great deal about all these possibilities to reach the essence of the core; the truths.
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Illustration by Martin Bladh for the performance Heliogabalus by Bo I. Cavefors and Martin Bladh.
In an action work (Deadringer 2) Martin Bladh is inspired by the mid panel in Francis Bacon’s triptych Three Studies for a Crucifixion (1962). Bacon has painted a naked, homosexual man lying on a bed. The figure differs remarkably from the classic catholic iconography, but the painting is still obviously traditional in the traditional sense of the word. Although the man on the picture is historically abstracted Bacon shows a figure, a man that visualizes how even an existentially modern human is incarnated in the eternal process of love, violence and suffering. Incarnation through pain and death, through sexual action and rest. Is the man on Bacon’s painting crucified, taken down and laid on lit de parade or is he resting after being whipped and fucked? The baconian red nuance reoccurs in Bladh’s Deadringer 2. The blood red paint on Bacon’s walls have transformed into “actual” blood which runs through a tube to the actor in Bladh’s action work, from a blood container, into the actor’s/man’s mouth, that fills up fast, the blood runs from the mouth and nose, drenches the bed that he lies on. It is a subtle way of Bladh to transform the Bacon painting to his own work. And besides, Bladh has something which Bacon lacks, accompanying, subtle, slow masturbating music as well, for example Sebastian (IRM. Virgin Mind, 2002). The spectators have to confront the philosophic and religious challenge to walk away with their own private vision. And follow up questions? Why isn’t Bladh’s man that receives the blood transfusion naked? Why is there no direct sexual connection between the queer Bacon’s naked man and Bladh’s sexually neutral man, with pants drawn up to his navel? Bladh won’t give any concrete answers to diffuse questions; which of course is impossible. But he gives us clues of violence and sexuality. In these video- and action works there’s reminiscences of Greek mythology and Christian resurrection drama, dionysic exhibitionism and Jesus Christ’s suffering and crucifixion. It’s about the ability, the art of enduring. Through this art of indurations, in the ability of enjoying pain, there is attraction and grandeur. After the excess the beautiful rest. Bladh reconstructs a renaissance aestheticism, a sadomasochistic ritual teaching which follows the instincts and insight instead of the intellect. When Bladh in the video work Exhibit A lets a real young and true-hearted boy transform into a boy soldier, is it a brutal image of many boys reality, a reality that not have to be the soldiers, but which shows how the vulnerable- and blossoming sexuality can be lead into the bourgeoisie societies norm of non-acceptable ways, but functioning through the boys own reality, as sadomasochism, exhibitionism etc. Towards the end of Bladh’s video the boy spreads his legs and offers his cock as a logo for his personality. The same thing happens in Exhibit B, but with the anus as the main subject. There are no valid intellectual arguments which can approve of this transformation, but with the transformation from being the used into being the abuser comes the cruel recipe of instinct and insight. And who would claim that the boy who’s being fucked by a man or the boy whom in the role of the soldier rapes other boys, wouldn’t enjoy being the one who “takes it” or the one that “gets back”. In Talk Show Bladh shows a young boy, with bandages wrapped around war injuries, almost naked, with a vaguely erect cock. The boy picks up a pair of scissors, and the spectator’s first impression is that he’s going to hurt himself, maybe castrate himself, but instead with trembling hands the boy starts to cut away the pubic hair which is visible above the edge of the bandage, to tidy up his appearance, to make the smooth body even more sexually attractive. In Talk Show 3; Off Stage the boyish body returns, now with clearly explicit signs of the cracks from the sadomasochistic whip. Bladh’s at the same time painfully and sexually pleasurably inciting triptych can be seen as a illustration to the quotation (5:29:30) where the evangelist Matthew speaks that it’s better to lose an eye or a hand then to have the whole body thrown into Gehenna. With other words, forsake that which is not essential, protect you solitude, your inaccessibility, because it is only through that naked position that you might access your freedom. Forsake conveniences and fortune which is reached through social terms; forsake the sexual variations imposed by the public opinion, because the real reality gives so much more, beauty and pain, tranquillity and ecstasy. “For some pain and blood are associated with death, but for others they are associated with birth” (Armando R. Favazza).
Martin Bladh knows a great deal about all these possibilities to reach the essence of the core; the truths.
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Illustration by Martin Bladh for the performance Heliogabalus by Bo I. Cavefors and Martin Bladh.
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Bo I. Cavefors
MARTIN BLADH och sanningarna
Sanningar är sällan entydiga. När Martin Bladh konfronterar våld, smärta och blod med nakna kroppar kan det första intrycket bli att han försöker väcka uppmärksamhet genom att använda sig av kontroversiella metoder. Att han följer i de spår Hermann Nitsch lagt i en snitslad bana mellan den grymma skönheten och äcklet. Men att se så snävt är bedrägligt, trots att Bladh erkänner sin släktskap med Nitsch när han i en artikel i tidskriften Heterogénesis (No. 50-51, 2005) under rubriken 010804, 14.00 – Castle Prinzendorf’s Chapel (First floor), skriver: ”It’s the cameras duty to immortalise the beauty of the passion, just like the great painters of old time”. Bladh är emellertid betydligt radikalare i sina attityder och blir tydligare än Nitsch när det gäller att konfrontera våldet med det vackra, att se skönheten i odjurets kropp; jag uppfattar Bladh som mer besläktad med Francis Bacon än med Nitsch och då framför allt med Bacons religiöst inspirerade bögkonst. Vad Bacon fotografiskt uppfattar som verklighet och därefter målar med penslar, omsätter Bladh i action, på scen och videos.
I ett Action Work (Deadringer 2) inspireras Martin Bladh av mittbilden i Bacons triptyk Three Studies for a Crusifixion (1962). Bacon har målat en naken, liggande, homosexuell man. Figuren skiljer sig markant från klassisk katolsk ikonografi, men trots det är målningen uppenbart ikonografisk i traditionell mening. Trots att mannen på bilden är historiskt abstraherad visar Bacon en figur, en man som åskådliggör hur även en existentiellt modern människa inkarneras i den eviga processen av kärlek, våld och lidande. Inkarnation genom smärta och död, genom sexuell action och vila. Är mannen på Bacons målning korsfäst, nedtagen och lagd på lit de parade eller vilar han ut efter att ha blivit piskad och knullad? I Bladhs Deadringer 2 återkommer de baconska röda nyanserna. Den blodröda färgen på Bacons väggar har hos Bladh förvandlats till ”faktiskt” blod som pumpas genom en slang till aktören i Bladhs Action Work, från en blodcistern, in i aktörens/mannens mun, som snabbt fylls, blodet rinner ut genom mun och näsa, dränker in sängen han ligger på. Det är ett subtilt sätt av Bladh att transformera Baconmålningen till det egna verket. Bladh har dessutom något Bacon saknade, ledsagande, subtil, långsamt masturberande musik, tex Sebastian (irm. Virgind mind, 2002). Åskådaren ställs inför den filosofiska och religiösa utmaningen att själv vandra vidare med egna visioner. Och följdfrågor. Varför är inte Bladhs man som tar emot blodtransfusionen, naken? Varför finns det inte en direkt sexuell koppling mellan bögen Bacons nakne man och Bladhs sexuellt neutrale man, med byxor uppdragna till naveln? Bladh ger inga konkreta svar på diffusa frågor; vilket naturligtvis är omöjligt. Men han ger oss ledtrådar om våld och sexualitet. I dessa Video Works och Action Works finns reminiscenser av grekisk mytologi och kristen uppståndelselära, dionysisk exhibitionism och Kristus Jesus lidande och korsfästelse. Det handlar om förmågan, om konsten att uthärda. I denna konst i att uthärda, i förmågan att njuta smärta, finns attraktivitet och grandezza. Efter excessen vilandet i skönhet. Bladh rekonstruerar en renässansesteticism, en sado-masochistisk rituallära som snarare följer instinkten och insikten än intellektet. När Bladh i videoverket Exhibit A låter en mycket liten och troskyldig pojke förvandlas till pojksoldat, är det en brutal bild av många pojkars verklighet, en verklighet som inte alls behöver vara soldatens, men som visar hur utsatthet och gryende sexualitet kan ledas in på ur det borgerliga samhällets normer icke-acceptabla vägar, men ur pojkens verklighet fungerande möjligheter, som sado-masochism, exhibitionism, osv. Mot slutet av Bladhs video särar pojken på benen och håller fram kuken som logotype för sin personlighet. Motsvarande sker i Exhibit B, men där med anus som centralt subjekt. Inga intellektuellt hållbara argument finns för att denna förvandling skall tillåtas ske, men med förvandlingen från utnyttjad till att bli den som utnyttjar finns det grymma receptet om instinkt och insikt. Och vem vill hävda att pojken som knullas av en man eller pojken som i egenskap av soldat våldtar andra pojkar, inte också njuter av att vara den som tar emot och som ger igen. I Talk Show visar Bladh en ung pojke, med bandage lagda på stridsskador, nästan naken, med svagt eregerad kuk. Pojken tar fram en sax och betraktarens första reaktion blir att han tänker skada sig själv, kanske kastrera sig själv, men med famlande händer klipper pojken istället bort de könshår som sticker fram vid bandagets kant, för att snygga till utseendet, för att göra den släta nakna kroppen än mer sexuellt attraktiv. I Talk Show 3; Off Stage återkommer pojkkroppen, nu med klart markerade märken av piskans sado-masochistiska slag. Bladhs samtidigt rått smärtsamma och sexuellt njutningsfullt eggande triptyk kan ses som illustration till det citat (5:29-30) där evangelisten Matteus talar om att det är bättre att mista ett öga eller en hand än att hela kroppen hamnar i Gehenna. Med andra ord, försaka det som inte är väsentligt, skydda din ensamhet, din oåtkomlighet, eftersom endast utifrån den i alla bemärkelser nakna positionen når du frihet. Försaka bekvämlighet och framgång mätt i sociala termer, försaka de av den allmänna opinionen påbjudna sexuella variationerna, eftersom den verkliga verkligheten ger så mycket mer, skönhet och smärta, ro och extas. ”For some pain and blood are associated with death, but for others they are associated with birth” (Armando R. Favazza).
Martin Bladh vet åtskilligt om alla dessa möjligheter att nå kärnorna, sanningarna.
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