Drawing Restraint Collection

Black and white video Mathew Barney early work

A video installation in which Satyrs grapple in a limousine as it drives through the tunnels of New York City. While one satyr chases its tail in the front seat, another attempts to make a drawing in the condensation-coated sunroof of the limousine using the third satyr's horn.

The film concerns the theme of self-imposed limitation and continues Matthew Barney's interest in religious rite, this time focusing on Shinto.

American WWII soldiers open a mold, exposing a solid architectural structure made entirely of petroleum jelly. The soldiers violently soften the structure with shovels. The wall of a large metal box slams down revealing Douglas MacArthur (played by Matthew Barney) smoking a large corncob pipe. MacArthur wades through the petroleum jelly morass to a Japanese general wearing a top hat. Both generals sign several white plastic tablets with inkless tattoo guns. Over a bunsen burner, Barney heats up a branding iron bearing his insignia and presses it into each white tablet. After each tablet has been signed and branded, Barbara Gladstone, who attends in period attire, ceremonially places a sticker label bearing the work’s name, date, and Gladstone Gallery logo on each tablet.

Presented as part of the exhibition "RIVER OF FUNDAMENT", Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.