by LaKota Franklin-Cain
Upon entering the exhibition, “Enchanted Forest Fire” by the artist, Raina Belleau, the viewers are immediately shown a big sign that bears a resemblance to common national park signs that typically indicates the rise in risk of a forest fire. The viewer might assume this will be another innocent exhibit that goes on about the dangers of forest fires or what-not. However, the second you pass the sign, you see the true distress of the exhibition.
In front of the viewer are various pieces all carrying a similar deranged vibe. In the center of the room is the piece, “Self-Medicating,” a 3D piece that shows a semi realistic bear seated on a faux lawn with a knocked over cooler, and scattered beer cans, while the bear itself is sitting in a lawn chair with a can-most likely a beer can- in its paw. A closer look and the viewer will see that the bear appears to be crying. This piece is one of the more realistically colored ones in the exhibition. It stands out because of it’s the semi-realistic aspect. The bear’s crying eyes are made from clay to form a cartoonish look, almost as if Belleau is dramatizing the feature.
The cartoonish way the eyes are done is a subtle reference to the way that Disney animated eyes and crying in their various fairytale cartoons. The fact that the bear is crying almost makes someone feel sorry for it but the fact that it’s animated makes it seem like it’s not a big deal because it’s not real. When people assume it’s not a big deal, that leads to less people caring what effect they have on the environment.
Moving through the exhibition, everything is set up in a way that lets the viewer choose how to view everything after passing the sign. The pieces are spaced out but contain other pieces rested on or underneath others or have smaller pieces between them. Each piece carries a distressed weight to it, even the signs that are littered around that say things like; “It’s Been Worse,” “Is This Enough,” and “*Gestures Broadly at Everything*.” Various animals are mutated to have rain accents. There’s a tapestry depicting the ‘perfect’ forest setting, hanging in front of a sculpture of an owl that looks like a piñata with glowing eyes and a raccoon staring at his hand while clearly tripping on acid that was probably left behind by a human. Every piece represents the effects of human destruction in the forest and how things like pollution, climate change, the dumping of toxic waste, littering, etc.; are starting to affect the animals.
This exhibition reminds me a lot of the art installation by Banksy, “Dismaland.” Banksy opened his “bemusement park” in 2015 to make fun of Disney and Disneyland’s-and other amusement parks in general-false claims of perfection and happiness that the world has to offer. It features things like a statue of Ariel that is obscured like someone scrubbed at her image, a dilapidated Cinderella’s castle that looks like it was left abandoned, a police van sinking into a pond that has a kiddie slide that goes right into the water, and various other pieces that carry a similar theme of a happy thing that was ruined. The assumption here is that all these things were ruined by society and the fact that they were left to rot and ruin.
Just because something seems fine behind glitter and gold (or in the case of Belleau’s work rainbows and a giant sign), doesn’t mean everything is alright. Belleau wanted the viewers to see the ruin that is happening to the forest in front of them. While it seems “enchanted,” in reality it’s a burning wreck and the animals seem like they have to adapt to the change or something worse may happen to them.
LaKota is a Senior majoring in Art Studio with a focus in Graphics and Photography. After Graduating, they plan to continue education at grad school to pursue a career in web design.