On the occasion of the Diane Arbus Retrospective at the Met Beuer in Fall 2016
In 1961 Diane Arbus took two photographs of Jack Dracula, also known as the “marked man.” One, of Dracula reclining in a field, was published with an article in Harper’s Bazaar. The other, included in the recent retrospective at Met Breuer, captures Jack Dracula at a table in a bar positioned centrally within the frame, much like in a painted portrait. The way he is exposed shirtless, making direct eye contact, invites objectification. At the same time as there is an invitation to join the intimate moment full access into the photograph is prevented. Jack’s body is both an invitation to spend time looking and the thing that prevents us from really looking at him. He is both present as a body and absent - his persona and the tattoos that cover him conceal his absence. This absence, or lack, is inherent to the structure of the ergon/parergon relationship outlined by Derrida in The Truth in Painting. Without the inherent lack, either of genesis or presence, the parergon as supplement would not exist. But the parergon is not merely an accessory, it is also a necessary part of the essences of a thing, blurring the relationship between its inside and outside.
Jack Dracula was born as Jack Baker. The title of the photograph Jack Dracula at a Barleaves an opening to consider the split signifier “Dracula.” When looking at a photograph of Jack Dracula one also expects to see Jack Baker. In fact, given that tattoos are parerga, that is a supplement, one’s inclination is to somehow look beyond them for the original man, Jack Baker. But there is no such beyond, no inside, which is separate from the persona that Jack created for himself, and that Diane Arbus represents for us. Jack Baker is the name for something missing from the photograph.
“Dracula” also brings to mind chains of associations: vampires, bats, creatures of the night, horror fiction, etc. There are even two bats in the photograph: one on Jack’s cigarette case, and another on the left side of his chest. These nuances detract further from grasping any sense
of being behind the multiplying parerga. There is a difference, according to Kant, between a simple (pure) parergon and a parergon which is a degradation of the “pure object of taste.” The simple parergon does not seduce, it is in no way attractive, but merely frames the pure object. If on the other hand the parergon seduces –– i.e. has color, content, sensory material –– it draws attention away from the pure object and becomes adornment, damaging the work of art. Within this schema any pleasure taken in Diane Arbus’s photograph, and Jack Dracula himself reified as a circus attraction, is pleasure taken in a surplus excessive beauty, or "schmuck." A body covered in tattoos signifies, is weighed down with content, so to speak. They are like columns carved into figures wearing clothes.
In 1961 Diane Arbus took two photographs of Jack Dracula, also known as the “marked man.” One, of Dracula reclining in a field, was published with an article in Harper’s Bazaar. The other, included in the recent retrospective at Met Breuer, captures Jack Dracula at a table in a bar positioned centrally within the frame, much like in a painted portrait. The way he is exposed shirtless, making direct eye contact, invites objectification. At the same time as there is an invitation to join the intimate moment full access into the photograph is prevented. Jack’s body is both an invitation to spend time looking and the thing that prevents us from really looking at him. He is both present as a body and absent - his persona and the tattoos that cover him conceal his absence. This absence, or lack, is inherent to the structure of the ergon/parergon relationship outlined by Derrida in The Truth in Painting. Without the inherent lack, either of genesis or presence, the parergon as supplement would not exist. But the parergon is not merely an accessory, it is also a necessary part of the essences of a thing, blurring the relationship between its inside and outside.
Jack Dracula was born as Jack Baker. The title of the photograph Jack Dracula at a Barleaves an opening to consider the split signifier “Dracula.” When looking at a photograph of Jack Dracula one also expects to see Jack Baker. In fact, given that tattoos are parerga, that is a supplement, one’s inclination is to somehow look beyond them for the original man, Jack Baker. But there is no such beyond, no inside, which is separate from the persona that Jack created for himself, and that Diane Arbus represents for us. Jack Baker is the name for something missing from the photograph.
“Dracula” also brings to mind chains of associations: vampires, bats, creatures of the night, horror fiction, etc. There are even two bats in the photograph: one on Jack’s cigarette case, and another on the left side of his chest. These nuances detract further from grasping any sense
of being behind the multiplying parerga. There is a difference, according to Kant, between a simple (pure) parergon and a parergon which is a degradation of the “pure object of taste.” The simple parergon does not seduce, it is in no way attractive, but merely frames the pure object. If on the other hand the parergon seduces –– i.e. has color, content, sensory material –– it draws attention away from the pure object and becomes adornment, damaging the work of art. Within this schema any pleasure taken in Diane Arbus’s photograph, and Jack Dracula himself reified as a circus attraction, is pleasure taken in a surplus excessive beauty, or "schmuck." A body covered in tattoos signifies, is weighed down with content, so to speak. They are like columns carved into figures wearing clothes.