In the Saatchi Gallery there was a small dark side room with benches where a video was playing. There was no information provided. The video had already started; there was a table set up for a dinner party in the wilderness. An elaborate spread with silverware laden with food plus bottles and glasses of wine. The table cloth blows gently in the wind creating a sort of ghostly presence. I sat and wondered for a while if this was all that was featured in the piece. Then I heard small squawking sounds that gradually grow louder. Shadows appeared and in a blink of an eye the dinner party guests swoop down and start gorging themselves. I became transfixed watching this happen. Within minutes everything is devoured and then they just leave again. I waited for the video to start again and briefly a name in the corner flashes, Greta Alfaro.
The piece itself is called, 'In Ictu Oculi,' which roughly translated as, 'in the blink of an eye,' which is the manner in which the vultures appear. This piece by Greta Alfaro shares it's name with a baroque painting by Juan Valdes Leal.
Juan Valdes Leal, In Ictu Oculi, 1672.
This hints that Alfaro was influenced by Valdes Leal and they both do seem to feature similar themes, of chaos and death. They both also feature movement, Alfaro's by the nature of the media (video) and Valdes Leal by the pose of the skeleton; leaning as though in the middle of action.
I chose to talk about Alfaro's, In Ictu Oculi as although I don't really understand the meaning of it, the first time I watched it I was just fascinated by it and it was the most memorable piece of art that I saw in London.
