June 3-17, LeVall Gallery, Novosibirsk RUSSIA
One-person exhibition of Viktor KOEN, New York
Works of 2 Series are presented: "Transmigrations" & "Damsels in Arms"
http://www.levallgallery.com/Exhibitions/2003/VKoen/index.html

transmigrations
by Viktor Koen

"Transmigrations, Cases of Corporate Reincarnation" showcases 24 portraits
of high executive title holders that return to life as insects. As a series
that combines theories and research on social insects, traditional and
contemporary corporate structures, job descriptions and reincarnation
scriptures,the characters personify symbols and weapons of their trades on a
number of levels, some instantly visible and other hidden.

The term "transmigration" refers to successive embodiments, mainly in the
sense of rebirth in lower life forms. This theory was first asserted by
Pythagoras, the most important early Hellenic thinker and the father of
controversial teachings on reincarnation of souls. He taught that those
whose lives had been filled with evil deeds and destructive emotions, were
unworthy to reincarnate immediately in human form. Such souls, therefore,
obsessed the bodies of animals and attempted to function through these
inferior vehicles until eventual re-elevation to a human host.

Insect societies, strife and competition prevail. The colony features a
system of castes and labor roles, aggression among competitive social
insects, individuals that achieved dominance over the rest and are given
preference in access to food and breeding cells. The chosen ones - even
within the same colony - recognize each other as rivals and display open
hostility to each other. Organizational details evolve through an
evolutionary optimization process, a precise replica of the methods used in
the marketplace to develop successful business models.

Similarly dynamic and competitive markets dictate aggressive corporate
behavior patterns and environments in which the option
of moral, human or fair conduct is almost an impossibility. The race towards
market domination has underscored the need for structures which define
clear, uncrossed lines of authority and communication. Thus arose a breed of
business executives who have to practice cold, analytical, often impersonal
tactics, in order to show the maximum return on investment for their
enterprises.

The series Transmigrations describes a cast of bureaucrats with punished
souls, consigned to the lowest life form, with upward mobility nearly
impossible. These concoctions of flesh and metal do not appear to be
individuals that made mistakes and wish to repent. They were willing
adapters of a predatory modus operandi and now, in their sub-human
condition, their instincts apply. Here their essence is physical and
exposed, just like the names, which to some degree, mirror the signature
trait of the insect with which they where fused. Comfortable in their new
suits, they size up their enemies. They have no friends, they never did.

   Viktor Koen, February 2001


Damsels in Armor
the War Monument Proposals
VIKTOR KOEN 2OO2

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Traditional war memorials have adhered to a strict code of remembrance:
commemorate the dead by distancing death; achieve public consensus through
the application of a conservative aesthetic. If truth is the casualty in
these classic depictions, a greater good remains permanently enshrined:
consolation for the bereaved and the elevation of the fallen to cult status.
Society needs to rally youth that must fight future wars and these
monumental odes to martyrdom provide the necessary inspiration.

Damsels in Armor is a civics lesson of another order: 24 unsanctioned
monuments testifying to war's truly brutal cost. Rising above the detritus
of battle, these damsels bear witness to the inevitable price of engagement;
no suit of armor can shield them from the acid scars of battle, now
permanently etched on their once beautiful faces. Triumph's glory has proved
to be transient. Corrosion defaces, distorts, reveals. This gallery of
figures forces us to acknowledge a reality understandably edited for
commissioned monuments: every victory is Pyrrhic.

A fusion of sculptural elements, weapons and armor, these "victory"
compositions have historical roots in works like Nike of Samothrace and
DeLacroix's celebrated painting "Liberty leading the people". Elements and
details were juxtaposed digitally for a seamless, almost painterly finish,
traditional in its look, if unorthodox in content. The damsels faces were
selected from 40th and 50th commercial photography, another era when truth
was glamorized for mass consumption. Original photography of armaments was
done on site at the Arms and Armor Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, the New York City Police Museum, and the War Museum of Greece.