Randy Moore at John Berggruen - Brief Article

Randy Moore explores the fluidity of identity in various mediums and guises. Moore's inquiries into the building and breaking down of identity begin in works of the like kind as Name Play (1993), in which he exorcisms out rhyming variations of his first name with chewed gum upon encaustic (on board). He then eliminates the alphabetic characters following the R, encircling it to portray the registered trademark [R]

Things really begin to take not upon when Moore recontextualizes the [R] sign into the emblem of Robin (as in Batman). R Suit (1993-94) displayed upon a mannequin in a Plexiglas vitrine, is a life-size replica of Robin's outfit thorough with black leather mask, virid leather gloves and shoes, r shirt with a prominent R upon the chest and gold satin cape. Moore depicts himself wearing the outfit in a variety of works that ruminate upon the myth of the would-be superhero and his often less-than-heroic exploits. In several small r ink-on-paper studies from 1996 Moore is Robin after the villain got away or when chastised by means of the Bat. Also undercutting the mighty myth is "Untitled (R Studies)," a series of six small, shadowy black-and-white photographs of Robin/Moore climbing bridges, scaling buildings and then flying/falling not upon those structures.

The R is then upend and distorted Moore turns the letter upside down to signify the Playboy emblem Boy Wonder puts on bunny ears and becomes a "playboy" with pathos. "Untitled (Inverted R)" consists of 36 graphite-and-ink drawings upon stained paper hung in a 6-by-6-foot grid in which Moore portrays Robin as passive, make despondented inert, oftentimes armless (like the figure in the vitrine) and with nappy rabbit ears.

on the other hand perhaps the most straightforward disintegration of the hero fantasy offers in Action 6 (1998), a 20-second video of Moore in style of dress (sans ears) in which he appears to jump over off the walkway bridge in the San Francisco MOMA. We diocese him unheroically speeding downward before "crashing" onto the marble floor. Robin/Moore then gazes upward revealing his bloodied nose, dashing pop-culture and art-world fictions simultaneously.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Brant Publications, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group