Another of Hogancamp’s works. (Photo by Dan Barton)
Every detail of Hogancamp’s costumed Barbies and action figures feels authentic, down to the net-covered canteens and helmets, tiny wristwatches and pulled-up nylon. The dolls are posed with uncanny naturalism, be it the rifle-toting soldier who leans back to view an approaching plane, couples chatting cozily over their mugs of beer in the crowded, warmly lit Catfight Club, a posse of soldiers anxiously looking for snipers in the snow, the hand that is suggestively placed over the half-dressed captain’s crotch by one of the women adoringly surrounding him.
The motorcycles and jeeps look worn and mud splattered, and the cigarette dangles from the GI’s mouth at just the right angle, conjuring up a Humphrey Bogart-like insouciance. Accompanying this attention to detail and riveting choreography is the use of lighting to create a mood, ranging from the bleakness of soldiers patrolling in the snow on an overcast day to the warm intimacy of dramatic, Caravaggio-esque spotlighting of characters in a dark interior to the matter-of-fact violence of an ambush in the raw spring sunshine.
Hogancamp also creates a strong psychological focus through his manipulation of depth of field, blurring a foreground character to focus on the captain’s face in the middle distance and narrowing the space by tightly focusing on his characters. Despite the oversized blades of grass and twigs of shrubs that are surrogates for trees, this is a human-scaled world; Hogancamp never condescends to kitsch nor self-conscious irony. The eroticism and romantic danger of his scenes are as palpable and alluring as in anyHollywoodclassic film of the period.
The show also displays what Hogancamp bills as his first diorama — an expired climber amid the rocks ofMount Everest, surrounded by a scattering of discarded oxygen tanks. Frosted with snow in a red jumpsuit and helmet, the figure rests against a rock beneath the beacon of his battery-powered light, his hand resting on a tight cord strung between the stones. The tenderness and vulnerability of that hand, contrasted with the taut rope, somehow invests the scene with subliminal life. Hogancamp’s art conflates victimhood with heroism, revenge with pathos, tenderness with eroticism, personal drama with historical greatness. Like great works of literature and cinema, his dolls plumb the depths of love and fear in an attempt to reveal the ideal self, while exposing who we really are.
“Crash Landing” will be on view at One Mile Gallery, located at 475 Abeel Street, through December 22. The gallery is open weekends, Saturday from noon to five and Sunday from noon to four. Holiday cards and a poster based on Hogancamp’s work are for sale, along with the photographs. For more e-mail [email protected] or call (845)338-2035.
