Introduction
This is a review of an exhibition, Faith & the Devil by Lesley Dill. It explores the struggle between good and evil forces and shows the complexity of such an attempt in human mind.
The review
Faith & the Devil is a huge installation that explores the theoretical and existential puzzles between the basic faith and evil in the world. The most important lynchpin for the puzzle is the Big Girl Faith. Faith is an eight-foot tall girl who stands tall at the center of the gallery. She wears wild writing hair alongside a twenty-six foot broad dress with drawn illustrations and writing. The images and writing express the major themes of the art, which include clemency, lust, violence and brutality, thoughts and change. There is also a word-illustrated sexless figure that represents evil. However, one can observe a sharp contrast between front and back of the Devil, which bear words of hate and joy respectively.
Dill presents her exhibition in unique fashion. She hangs textual bits and pieces in George Adams Gallery in a way that depicts the Victorian ransom note. The snippets cover every part of the Gallery. They turn, twist and burst out from corner to corner in the gallery walls and floor. Within the center of the Gallery, there is an installed Faith. Faith shows all themes that the artwork aims to explore.
There are several sub-divisions within the gallery area. These spaces contain lists of words that focus on themes of the exhibition. The most noticeable snippet bears ‘Horrible Words’. It is also the most pleasing with its rhythmic poems of ‘little shit friends watching little shit’. These are words of cataclysm and disaster. They move in different shapes and create shadows within the gallery as illustrations with strange appearances and various messages display throughout the spaces. The snippets reflect a work of genius, which could have originated from various sources and inspired by lots of experiences.
While this exhibition reflects the work of a genius, it is imperative to focus on the role of Faith against the Devil. Viewers remain skeptical whether Faith will accomplish her mission against the Devil. Overall, the exhibition does create a completely different and effectual gallery experience for the audience.
While Dill’s artwork does not necessarily portray the actual struggle between the evil and the good, it does show that such attempts can result into mental torture. This notion, as a theme, makes the exhibition quite interesting.
Conclusion
The audience must realize that it must have been a challenge to arrange all snippets with various themes in the gallery. The name, Faith could be symbolic to demonstrate conflicts between the calmness and fears from various sources, either mental or outside world.
Faith must demonstrate action. She must confront the Devil as an attempt to understand the mystery. Therefore, Faith & the Devil aims to explore the audience’s minds. It shows a world in which profound actions of destruction and cruelty exist alongside illumination and fulfillment. The audience should recognize that Faith does not reflect naivety surrender or sincerity because both opposing views may co-exist in the soul. The fundamental concept is that the exhibition attempts to show the big picture, which reflects decadence that tears the contemporary society apart. Hence, themes, such as cruelty, violence, forgiveness, lust and others depict human behaviors globally.
