R. Eric McMaster: Compressions
Saturday, March 2, 2024 - Sunday, August 25, 2024
R. Eric McMaster’s work explores the protocols that govern various sports by manipulating, isolating, or restricting the rules and conditions that determine athletes’ movements. In A Change of Atmosphere (2015), a gymnast performs his pommel horse routine under water, struggling with the awkwardness of breathing and the challenge of buoyancy rather than gravity. The Obstruction of Action by the Presence of Order (2012–13) appropriates footage from the 2012 Summer Olympics of athletes awaiting the signal to perform. The Obstruction of Action by the Existence of Form (2012–13) places two hockey teams in a custom rink a fraction of regulation size, forcing them to play shoulder to shoulder. McMaster has stated: “When we experience the familiar disrupted, we often can’t clearly categorize the experience.” The results can be humorous or awe-inspiring—sometimes both simultaneously—and often demonstrate a vulnerability that both athletes and non-athletes can relate to.
McMaster was born in Clarion, Pennsylvania in 1979. He received a BFA from Pennsylvania State University (2003) and an MFA from Arizona State University (2008). He currently lives and works in Austin, where he teaches in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Texas at Austin.
Organized by Veronica Roberts, former Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Claire Howard, Associate Curator, Collections and Exhibitions, Blanton Museum of Art
R. Eric McMaster: Compressions is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art.
Gallery TextMcMaster was born in Clarion, Pennsylvania in 1979. He received a BFA from Pennsylvania State University (2003) and an MFA from Arizona State University (2008). He currently lives and works in Austin, where he teaches in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Texas at Austin.
Organized by Veronica Roberts, former Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Claire Howard, Associate Curator, Collections and Exhibitions, Blanton Museum of Art
R. Eric McMaster: Compressions is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art.
R. Eric McMaster’s work explores the protocols that govern various sports by manipulating, isolating, or restricting the rules and conditions that determine athletes’ movements. For example, the gymnast in the video A Change of Atmosphere performs his pommel horse routine underwater, struggling with the awkwardness of breathing and the challenge of buoyancy rather than balance in the absence of gravity.
In the photograph and video The Obstruction of Action by the Existence of Form, two hockey teams play shoulder to shoulder in a rink McMaster constructed at less than one-tenth of regulation size. The compressed space creates an event that is both comical and even more combative than a typical match—the players cannot avoid physical contact.
The Obstruction of Action by the Presence of Order appropriates footage from the 2012 Summer Olympics of gymnasts awaiting the signal to perform. The video is silent, with no sportscaster commentary distracting from the tension evident in the athletes’ faces as they await permission from an unseen, unheard authority figure. Despite years of practice, they—and we—know that perfection is impossible.
McMaster has stated, “When we experience the familiar disrupted, we often can’t clearly categorize the experience.” His challenging of athletic norms suggests the possibility of new ways of seeing and being in the world. While the results are often humorous, they also create empathy for the vulnerability and pressure athletes experience. Heightened awareness of the regulations to which they are subjected likewise encourages us to reflect on the social dynamics and conventions governing our own lives.
La obra de R. Eric McMaster explora los protocolos que rigen diversos deportes mediante la manipulación, el aislamiento, o bien la restricción de normas y condiciones que determinan los movimientos de los y las atletas. Por ejemplo, el gimnasta del video A Change of Atmosphere [Un cambio de atmósfera] lleva a cabo su rutina en el caballo con arcos bajo el agua, donde se enfrenta a la incomodidad de no respirar y al desafío de poder flotar, y no al del equilibrio, por la falta de gravedad.
En la fotografía y el video The Obstruction of Action by the Existence of Form [La obstrucción de la acción por la existencia de forma], dos equipos de hockey juegan codo a codo en una pista que McMaster construyó con menos de una décima parte del tamaño reglamentario. El espacio comprimido da lugar a un acontecimiento que resulta gracioso y, a su vez, más competitivo que un partido normal, ya que los jugadores no pueden evitar el contacto físico.
The Obstruction of Action by the Presence of Order [La obstrucción de la acción por la presencia de orden] se apropia de grabaciones filmadas durante los Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 2012, en las cuales se observan a gimnastas que esperan la señal para entrar en acción. El video es mudo, es decir, no incluye los análisis de comentaristas que distraigan de la tensión evidente en los rostros de los y las atletas mientras esperan el permiso de una figura de autoridad invisible y desconocida. A pesar de los años de práctica, tanto quienes se dedican al deporte como quienes observamos, sabemos que la perfección es imposible.
Según McMaster, "cuando experimentamos la alteración de lo familiar, a menudo no podemos categorizar la experiencia con claridad". Su desafío a las normas del deporte sugiere la posibilidad de formas nuevas de observar y estar en el mundo. Si bien los resultados suelen tener un toque de humor, también generan empatía por la vulnerabilidad y la presión que experimentan las personas dedicadas al deporte. Una mayor conciencia de las normas a las que están sometidas nos anima, asimismo, a reflexionar sobre la dinámica y las convenciones sociales que rigen nuestras propias vidas.