Keziah and I had the chance to make it up to Santa Ana for a quick visit to the Artists Village today. While browsing through the galleries I was surprised to find that CSUF had arranged an exhibit of the work of Mark Mothersbaugh. This surprise came because I had thought Mark Mothersbaugh was strictly a composer, I had no clue he was also a visual artist. The fact that his visual subject matter is just as strange as the movies he usually composes soundtracks for did not surprise me; the movie soundtracks he has under his belt are "Rushmore", "The Royal Tenenbaums", and "The Life Aquatic". He is also a former member of the band Devo, famous for the song "Whip It" in the 1980s. His photography is mostly manipulation of older photographs in order to emphasize the strangest qualities. The prominence of abnormalities in all of Mothersbaugh's subjects calls attention to the fact that we all have some strangeness in us. Much in the way that looking back on Victorian era family portraits makes us question our own genetics and personalities, or in the way that Diane Arbus was able to make normal people seem abnormal. The resulting aesthetic is sort of a combination between Diane Arbus and the work of an artist named Travis Louie. Each photograph is uniquely captivating, if you can make it to Santa Ana I highly recommend seeing this exhibit.
