K-20 2008

Editor: This mixed-media piece, titled "K-20," was created by Robert McGinnis in 2008. It has so much going on; the composition feels like it’s drawing from graphic novels, maybe, with a pulp fiction mood. What’s your interpretation? Curator: It seems like a constructed image that is about itself: materials, labour, and production are right at the front, in this mixed-media painting, with acrylic on the support. There is so much to note on that level of analysis, which becomes, maybe, a meta-narrative? Editor: That is quite interesting, you see the artwork through the physical aspect. So, how do you see all the labour of each scene, as they contribute to this meta-narrative? Curator: In the use of materials there seems to be little hierarchy, because all sorts of cultural narratives exist at the same pictorial level. It's like the labor of each part, or the making of each subject in this fantasy artwork, all get consumed the same way, as equal cultural tokens, and not fine art. All mashed together, you see? Editor: So it is as if its intrinsic, symbolic order became as significant as any superficial content? It really gives me a different outlook for reading the image. Curator: Indeed, the 'K-20' title also plays its part, contributing as another semiotic material to digest, re-evaluate, and question. Is it pointing toward the making of a particular film? Or is it even making a more open, direct allusion? Editor: Right, seeing art beyond its symbolic dimension, questioning its physical creation to reflect on culture and class… I never thought I would enjoy this so much! Thanks.