The Family Fang – Kevin Wilson

Where to draw the line is a question of moral dispute that incites many debates and rarely offers answers. The line is close for some people, far for others, and sometimes even nonexistent. What line you may ask? ‘That line.’ The one you forget exists until you dangerously cross it. In jokes ‘the line’ is a subject of constant debate. What is ‘too far’ within the realm of humor? In art, ‘the line’ is often blurry, wavy, or just not there, sparking many debates as well. In 1971 Chris Burden was shot in the arm by a friend as a part of an art piece entitled “Shoot.” In 2007 Guillermo Vargas starved a dog, tied it to the wall, and burned pieces of crack cocaine and marijuana as part of his art show “N° 1.” In 2008 Aliza Shvarts claimed to have artificially inseminated and aborted multiple of her own fetuses over the course of a year as part of her senior performance art project at Yale University. Do these art works cross ‘the line’? Or, does tacking the word ‘art’ onto something controversial make it acceptable?

In a class at Columbia College Chicago, the students were given a list of ethically questionable actions and asked to come to a consensus and organize the list from least ethical to most ethical. During the ensuing debate, the topics that the class had the most difficulty deciding on were the topics which included the word art. Was standing on an American flag as part of an art piece ethical? Was using aborted fetuses as a medium acceptable in the name of art? Although ‘the line’ in art is unlikely to be defined soon or ever, the topic is still one of considerable discussion and is addressed in Kevin Wilson’s new novel, The Family Fang.

Wilson’s first novel follows the life of the Fang family, a couple of performance artists and their children. The story unfolds in the present with every other chapter being a flashback description of a piece of art produced by the Fang family. Camille and Caleb Fang, the matriarch and patriarch of the Fang clan have a very unique view of what art is and they often carried out their acts without regard for the wellbeing or future sanity of their children.

The book begins when the children are grown and trying to cope in the real world after a childhood full of bizarre works of art in which they were forced to participate. Annie Fang is an aspiring actress holding a lot of resentment for her less than normal childhood. Buster Fang is a struggling freelance journalist by day and a novelist by night. When Annie becomes involved in several tabloid scandals and is kicked out of her movie and Buster is shot in the face with a potato gun and uses his last cent on the medical bills, the Fang children are forced to return home to their parents and their artistic antics. Soon after they return, Camille and Caleb Fang go missing and Annie and Buster are forced to investigate their disappearance. Are the Fang parents actually missing or are they in the midst of a piece of art? The stress that the disappearance puts on the siblings suggests that if this is art, this piece has definitely crossed the line.

 Everything about the plot and the characters in The Family Fang are completely absurd, but to the great entertainment of the reader. These absurdities are only accentuated by the descriptions of the art produced by the Fangs in the alternating chapters. Wilson must have been a performance artist in his past life because the book is entirely filled with completely strange ideas for art pieces centering on the Fang philosophy of art: chaos is beauty. While providing a reason to laugh, the flashback descriptions also add depth to the characters especially Annie and Buster who are constantly dealing with their past and who find themselves unable to disentangle themselves from their strange and scarring childhood. With the goal of ultimate chaos, Camille and Caleb devised numerous performances which incorporated Annie and Buster starting when they were only infants, these works ultimately resulted in complete turmoil and occasionally arrest. As you can imagine, a childhood filled with forced performance art participation led to some serious mental and character flaws in the Fang children which provides the backdrop for the unfolding mystery of the Fang disappearance.

While the plot of the story never fails to entertain, the book loses some resonance because of its complete absurdity. The underlying themes of family bonds and sibling relationships are completely overshadowed and made not relatable by the fact that the Fang family is most certainly one of a kind. Not many people find themselves forced to dress in drag to overthrow a beauty pageant or asked to eat hundreds of jelly beans off the floor of a candy shop. Though these events will no doubt provide a laugh, the deeper and more subtle elements of the novel are buried under these farces. At the root, The Family Fang is about overcoming trying pasts and about family relationships, that is if you can find it through the chaos of the Fang pranks that consume the book.

Part mystery, part art book, part romance, part family history, The Family Fang is a circus run by a crazy person. It may be completely unrealistic, it may be insanely bizarre, but it is sure to be enjoyable. There is no doubt that after reading this book you will begin to ponder ‘the line’ and, in fact, the very meaning of the word art.

Rafaël Rozendaal

http://www.newrafael.com/websites/

How many hours do we spend surfing the web endlessly, searching for something to fill our time? How much time do we spend watching pointless videos, scrolling through random websites, reading random memes? The answer is billions and billions of hours. The beautiful (or possibly terrible) thing about the internet is that we will never run out of sites to scroll and videos to watch because for every hour we spend procrastinating millions more things are being uploaded to the internet. Visual artist Rafaël Rozendaal has taken advantage of our attention on the internet to create a new genre of art. Combining pop art elements with web design Rozendaal has a collection of over fifty websites created simply as pieces of art. Whether or not these websites are actually art could be debated, whether or not they are entertaining cannot be questioned. Each website consists of a simple page with a shape or image. Some move reminiscent of iTunes visualizer, some manipulate the cursor and some have interactive elements. All are displayed simply and under enigmatic web addresses.

            Rozendaal is a Dutch-Brazilian artist who has been creating these websites since 2001 and they receive over 15 million views per year. Some of his websites such as flamingcursor.com are very straight forward. This website consists of a plain black screen with your white cursor which when moved about, emits flames. Other sites are more abstract such as everythingyouseeisinthepast.com which consists of a screen of shifting shapes and patterns. In the same way as the content, the style of art changes in many websites. Some sites such as papertoilet.com are very pop art-y in style and this particular page depicts a simple roll of toilet paper. Others center more on shape and color rather than literal things.

            In some ways Rozendaal’s work could be categorized with the hundreds of pointless iPhone apps like the applications that just show a crackling fire or the thousands of eye pleasing screen savers, but in some sites, Rozendaal accesses something deeper and darker. Fataltotheflesh.com requires the mouse holder to click and drag lines onto a white screen. The red lines that appear reveal themselves to be bleeding cuts which drip blood down the screen. In brokenself.com the viewer clicks the screen to shatter a mirror into hundreds of shards

            While this art may be abstract in making a statement or identifying itself in the traditional art sense, there is no doubt that Rozendaal has created a unique and completely relevant something. His medium of the internet is sure to gather viewers and the bizarreness of the titles of the works suggest something more than just procrastination entertainment. What that is will surely be determined by one of the millions of people who stumble upon the sites during a daily stroll through the internet. So next time you’ve got some time to kill skip over Facebook and Tumblr and check out Rafaël Rozendaal’s web art.

Covert Affairs

 

I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the republic which is plagued by Russian spies and dangerous assassins, but protected by our heroic CIA agents who tackle our enemies wearing red high heels. In the age of patriotism, USA’s Covert Affairs has captured our minds with high speed car chases, sexy spies, and all in the name of America the beautiful. The writing may be subpar, the acting mediocre, but Covert Affairs knows how to entertain.

            Covert Affairs Pilot starring Piper Perabo as the daringly beautiful Annie Walker, first aired July 13, 2010 and will continue with its third season this summer. Annie Walker is a language genius finishing up her time in CIA training at ‘the farm’ when she is suddenly and mysteriously summoned to Langley, the CIA head quarters. Annie’s language expertise is needed to gain intelligence from a Russian contact and Annie is thrown head first into the world of a spy. As she works her first assignment she encounters assassins, bureaucratic monsters, friendly blind men, deceiving ex convicts, and over protective siblings. This special two hour episode has it all: high speed car chases, hand to hand combat, frightening shoot outs, under cover call girls, and don’t forget the romance.

            Layering selfless patriotism with straight up badass, Annie Walker is at the crux of Covert Affairs. Men and women alike can appreciate Perabo’s style. The Pilot is peppered with scenes for just such an audience: Annie valiantly jumping out of a plane while her male colleagues look on in fear, Annie seducing her way out of interrogation with the FB I, Annie catapulting turnstiles in chase of a dangerous foreigner while wearing five inch heels, Annie driving her red car like a NASCAR stunt driver in escape of a sketchy black car following her. If Annie isn’t to your taste then you’re sure to find someone you like. There’s the loveable techie Auggie, blinded in Iraq, who always has a joke and a piece of advice, and who is, let’s be frank, pretty darn good looking. There’s Arthur and Joan, big bosses in the CIA and using their CIA privileges and under cover knowledge to ensure that they aren’t cheating. There’s the sneaky Liza Hearn, a journalist leaking intelligence secrets. And of course Annie’s mysterious love interest who vanishes suddenly from their bed of new and passionate love, leaving only a note.

            The episode starts with Annie’s polygraph for entry into the CIA and we are introduced through flashbacks to Annie’s tumultuous love affair in Sri Lanka which, after ending so abruptly, leaves Annie hardened and ready for a life of secrecy and dedication to her country. Back in the present Annie is summoned to Langley, given a fake cell phone enabled to synch with the cell phone of a Russian asset and a DC call girl outfit. When the operation goes wrong Annie gets in trouble with her strict boss Joan, and is forced to take initiative to solve the problem herself.

            While we will never know what truly goes on inside the highly guarded CIA headquarters, we can guess that undercover missions do not usually unfold with such slow motion glamour, that paper work is not actually done so infrequently, and the head of the Domestic Protection Division does not actually get to wear such low cut dresses. Despite this unreality and the somewhat cheesy writing, Covert Affairs has surely persuaded numerous budding Americans, that the CIA is a job of intrigue and excitement again in the name of good ‘ol America.

            This high budget, high profile TV show has action and glamour going for it, and that is the way it is going to have to continue. To stay successful Covert Affairs will have to continue wowing us with high speed chases, complex CIA lingo, and the perilous state of our national security. With the current nuclear mindset, USA network will have no problem keeping us on our toes and even convincing us to give our life for our country, or more likely, our life in search of a thrilling spy lifestyle in which leaping from planes in tight skirts is the norm and there is liberty and justice for all.