As Cowin Views It, Life Is Not Always a Fairy Tale

Eileen Cowin is a noted L.A. photo and video artist in midcareer. She’s spent some years thinking about fairy tales and how they relate to everyday existence. The latest manifestations of these musings are on view at Cal State Long Beach’s art museum under the general title “Eileen Cowin: Returning to Ordinary Life.”

A 4 1/2-minute video projection is the central theme piece. The picture alternates between a shot of a woman standing on a street corner and a close-up of brambles being carefully cut with scissors. The soundtrack goes back and forth between a male and female voice uttering sentences. All begin with the sentiment “I wish.” That’s the part that connects the imagery to fairy tales.

Curator Meg Linton’s brochure essay says that Cowin purposely sets up her juxtapositions to suggest an ambiguous narrative, which leaves a lot to the viewer’s imagination. The artist certainly doesn’t tack things down, but, consciously or otherwise, she does narrow the field to an interpretation in which she’s complicit.

A key word in her title is “ordinary.” Since that denotes something different to just about everybody, it’s safe to assume that what Cowin shows us fulfills her notion of what it means.

Her street corner appears to be the center of a suburban town that belongs to the past. Thus, the “return” of the title suggests memory. The image is in washed-out black-and-white, imparting a feeling between melancholy and depression. The shot’s noncommittal middle distance hints that the feelings are neither strong nor clear.

The central female figure’s back is turned, indicating someone who feels excluded and insignificant. Since the man in the piece isn’t depicted, this is clearly her story. Dialogue consists entirely of phrases used on parting. He says things like “I wish you the best of luck.” Her words are similar but sometimes garbled, as if she’s of two minds. In either case, every utterance is a platitude. Our estranged couple has neither the humor nor imagination to make their sundering easy.

All this is so plain that the interpolated color image of thorns is redundant except as a reminder that love hurts. Cowin does a good job of imparting the exhaustion and abandonment we all feel when romance dies. She induces the boredom of being returned to singularity. Unfortunately, an expressive monotone causes a sense of being told things we already knew. There’s no hint that a solo life can be happier than being stuck with a bum lover.

Cowin is capable of juicier work. Her “. . . and the daughter married the prince” in last spring’s COLA (City of Los Angeles) exhibition at Barnsdall Park had a nice mordant edge. Still, works in this presentation show the mental animation that redeems an elegiac funk. The top panel of a small diptych shows the sea underlined with the fortune-cookie motto “You have a yearning for perfection.” The bottom image brings back our turned-away lady. She is cautioned, “Don’t be overly suspicious when it is not warranted.” Nice, healthy irony, that. In other pieces, Cowin risks the kitsch of beautiful sunsets and swaying palms to say, “What the heck, romance is an end in itself. You just have to pay the price.”

*

“Eileen Cowin: Returning to Ordinary Life,” Cal State Long Beach, University Art Museum, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach; through Oct. 25, closed Mondays. (562) 985-5761.