Matthew Barney
Drawing Restraint

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Film: Drawing Restraint 9

DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 is film with no dialogue. It is an abstract fairy tale carried by striking visuals and music (much like opera), which draws its inspiration from Japanese cultural tradition, the history of petroleum-based energy, and the evolution of the whale. Framed within the Japanese whaling tradition, the story draws an elliptical connection between prehistoric fossil fuel, the prehistoric land mammal as a pre- condition for the modern whale, whale oil as a primary energy source, and the contemporary condition of the diesel fueled factory ship. The DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 narrative begins with a procession at a Japanese oil refinery, where a tanker truck loaded with hot petroleum jelly is paraded from the factory gates down to the local harbor. The tanker is led by oxen, horses, deer, and wild boar and is flanked by hundreds of Japanese revelers as it arrives abreast an enormous factory whaling ship. The hot petroleum jelly has been delivered to the ship in port, where it is pumped into a massive, open mold on the aft deck. The ship leaves departs for the Antarctic, and over weeks the mass of petroleum jelly cools. The cured surface of the jelly casting becomes a provocative reflection of the changing condition of the seas. Whale processing methods and tools are used to facilitate the creation of this sculpture. The story culminates with the de-molding of the sculpture as the ship reaches the Southern Ocean, with the backdrop of luminous icebergs.

Matthew Barney "Drawing Restraint 9" (2005) Production Photograph.
ý2005 Matthew Barney. Photo: Chris Winget. Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York
ý2005 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, all rights reserved

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