Composition with Yellow 黄色のコンポジション

Moving forward through a space enclosed by plastic sheets, viewers encounter a serene looking sculptural figure. The figure appears as if it had been left in a studio for its clay to dry out. Scattered on the ground beneath it, are flaking pieces of clay and miscellaneous work tools. Why is the figure in this state? When was it made? What kind of place is this space? Indeed, viewers are left suspended in a sense of obscurity. The world that unfolds within the works of Mark MANDERS (1968-) is based on his idea of “Self-Portrait as a Building.” Ever since devising this concept at the age of 18 through arranging writing materials on the floor in the shape of a building’s floor plan, Manders has engaged in creating a self-portrait of fictional individual by employing the formalities of a “building.” His oeuvre, which combines sculpture, poetry, and text in unique ways all trace back to and are contained within his fictional concept of buildings. The place where we as viewers encounter the works is a real place and is also place that belongs to this building. It is perhaps in this point in which fiction intersects with reality, that we find ourselves suspended. Elements of fictitiousness are interlaced throughout the work (for example, the figure that appears fragile is in fact made of extremely solid bronze), and the order of things such as beginning and end, cause and the result, is nullified. What manifests as a result is “a frozen moment in time, in which everything has been realized all at once,” which in itself serves to support the idea of the “building.” We find ourselves drifting in this world, as if reading through a single large book with no storyline.