November 19, 2004
Jesper Just at Perry Rubenstein Gallery
Artforum.com has published my brief review of Jesper Just's New York solo debut, now on view at Perry Rubenstein Gallery. I've also posted a copy in the BrianSholis.com archive. Here's the text:
Danish artist Jesper Just's New York debut presents three variations on a theme. Each of the short videos (two shot on 16mm film) uses deadpan acting as a foil for humorously preposterous situations. No Man Is an Island II (all works 2004) is set in a dark red-leather-and-mirrors gentleman's club, in which Johannes Lilleøre, the innocent-faced star of other Just videos, is one of several men scattered about the room. Unexpectedly, he rises from his seat and begins an a cappella rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying"; in turn, and in harmony, the other men join in. Yet each remains isolated in the room and by the camera, and at the end of the song (by which point tears are streaming down Lilleøre's face) we still don't know what compelled him to start in the first place. Likewise the narratives of Bliss & Heaven and The Lonely Villa have little forward momentum. Just's lush production values, noir sensibility (his raking light and deep shadow speak volumes), and immaculate eye for detail add frisson to the ambiguity. We expect more action than we get, so the erotic tension between his vulnerable male characters takes center stage. These videos are emotional pressure-cookers propelled by little more than the resonance of sentimental song lyrics. That they are beguiling is a dual testament to the power of music and to Just's deft handling of his material.
The two newest videos in the show are not as strong as No Man Is an Island II and others he recently exhibited at Midway Contemporary Art in Minneapolis, but if he can achieve for other subjects the emotional nuances shown in this body of work, Just will undoubtedly become a star. He's been busy this year already and is currently slated for another gallery solo somewhere in Italy this month. (I can't recall where off the top of my head.)