Marilyn Manson At "Genealogies Of Pain" Exhibition...

review by Beli Cantu.
June 28th 2010.

The highlight of this exhibition was definitely "Are You Sure You´re Comfortable?" from the Elizabeth Short as Snow White series, inspired by the shocking autopsy pictures taken from the Black Dahlia murders.

Many of the watercolors shown were made as early as 2002, which I would consider this to be Marilyn Manson´s period when "The Golden Age Of Grotesque" came out.

In general the technique expresses and gives a very ephimerous motif, yet the main subject of pain makes them more everlasting than any other work I´ve seen so far. It seems each of the protagonists of Manson´s paintings is clearly defined, however most of the time there is a lack of space and time, like a background. So at the end of the day, this collection of tormented creatures become more of a plaything, which can also lead to yet another interesting path which is self-discovery and finding a comfortable identity.

Despite the scary look of these watercolors such as the case of "I've Got My Arm Around No One" the use of vibrant and decaying colors establishes a certain dialogue with the viewer, which is one of the most important elements of Expressionism.

A very clever phrase I like very much about this interview, from the man himself:

"Painting does not have an audience like music does".

In a way it´s true. Art appeals may be appealing to everyone and they´re always welcome to watch it, no matter how daring it might seem, it´s art. But music for some reason is more personalized, so much that at some point it makes the listener isolate, thus the huge success of portable players.

Congrats to Manson for this show, hope he infects the world with art and not only music.
The video of the opening night held at Kunsthalle Wien: