| Tom & Jerry embody what I most admire
in art: an exact technique added to an arcane symbolism in such a balance that is rendered
invisible for the spectator. The story is always the same, the story-teller is the one who
really changes. A mouse (or a cat)
crashes against a door or is squashed by a falling wardrobe. Suddenly, its body is
flattened and adopts the shape of a piece of paper.
A window is opened and the breeze rocks it
like a leaf falling from a tree. It reaches the floor and we confront an epiphany, a
compression of life’s meaning.
A hole, just like Jerry’s, through
which to disappear from this race, these narrow escapes from an endless amount of things
falling, this running away from all kind of objects. Maybe they are not exactly objects,
but emotions, but they certainly seem to be collapsing all around! Yes, to have a hole to
disappear.
Waiting for Jerry was built in 1991
as a gift for my daughter Lucía, who felt an unconditional solidarity with Jerry’s
need to defend himself from Tom’s men-acing presence. Nowadays, her younger brother
Diego insists that this small and nervous mouse is a nightmare for the quiet and peaceful
cat, who like Diego and myself, only wants to lay down and do nothing but watch cartoons.
Waiting for Jerry was constructed in
the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, in 1991, as a humorous comment on what I thought at the
time was an increasing amount of darkrooms in exhibitions. Seen with the added distance of
time, I feel the piece has lost its social criticism but gained something else entirely. |
