21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

The film in Drawing Restraint 9 is without dialogue, and presents an operatic, abstract fairy tale comprised of imagery and music. At an oil refinery in Japan, a tanker carrying a large quantity of molten petroleum jelly arrives at a port where a huge industrial whaling ship is anchored, accompanied by a procession led by various animals and performers. Petroleum jelly is poured into a huge mold on the deck, and the surface of the petroleum jelly as it gradually solidifies over several weeks provocatively reflects the ever-changing state of the sea. Fabrication of the sculpture cast in petroleum jelly proceeds steadily through the use of whaling techniques and implements, and the story reaches a climax when the process of removing the mold commences against a backdrop of glistening icebergs in the Antarctic Circle. On the second deck of the ship a foreign man and woman dressed in traditional Japanese costume, played by Barney and Björk, are guests at a tea ceremony, and the time-honored and meticulous actions of the tea master continue as the two characters form a silent bond. As the ship sails on, the story comes to a stunning and dramatic conclusion when their figures slowly metamorphose into white whales.

Matthew Barney

Matthew Barney was born in 1967 in San Francisco, and lives and works in New York City. After completing pre-med studies at Yale University in 1989, he studied art and physical education. He became increasingly active as an artist in the early 1990s, and since his solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1991, has prolifically produced films, sculptures, and works in other media. His sculptures are often composed of unique materials, such as industrial reinforcing plastic and silicone, while his films create unique and profound atmospheres with deliberate pacing and sculpted sound. Among his best-known works are the films in the Cremaster cycle, which explore processes occurring inside and outside the body.
Barney’s accolades include the Europa 2000 Prize in the Aperto division of the 1993 Venice Biennale and the Hugo Boss Prize from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2000. His work is in major public collections including those of the Dallas Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Gallery; the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.