Erica van Zon, still from Mushroom, 2006.

 

Erica Van Zon

29 September - 26 October 2008 in the Square² Gallery

Mushroom 2006
DVD
duration: 5min 32 sec
Courtesy of the artist

Mushroom was shot in the spring of 2006, and for the artist suggests a time of letting go and change. The contrast of a spring-like setting and the autumnal mushroom is just one of many contradictions and oddities that underlie its absurdist appeal. A colossal paper-stuffed mushroom advances towards the viewer, invoking an outlandish dream narrative, or perhaps a music video. The awkwardness and simplicity of the homemade prop is given centre stage, and we can barley see the artist, obscured behind the bulk of this ungainly object.

‘The video format allowed a synthesis between making soft objects and having them presented in a more mysterious way, not too obvious and didactic, whilst still holding a presence’, Erica writes. The soundtrack, Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds of Love’ (1985) plays up to the work’s narrative potential for frightening, as a genre of ‘botanical grotesque’ or thriller: It's coming for me through the trees.
Help me, darling,
Help me please!
The tracking is slowed down to heighten the audience’s suspense, and a sense of building drama. The closing scene comically dispels this, returning again to the song lyrics: I've always been a coward, / And never know what's good for me. The theatrical menace was only a satin mushroom.

Erica van Zon (born 1979) is based in Auckland. She completed a Masters in Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Art in 2007, where her graduation piece was the recreation of a film set from David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Her recent exhibitions include ‘Shock! Horror! Suspense!’ at Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts in Pakuranga; a self-titled show at Starkwhite, Auckland; ‘Props Room Configuration #2’ at The Physics Room, Christchurch, and ‘The Artist’s Film Festival’, curated by Paula Booker, Wellington, Christchurch and New Plymouth. Next Year Erica is looking forward to a solo show at Newcall, Auckland, and continuing DJing with cassette tapes.