Dec. 17 2009 - 1:07 pm | 258 views | 1 recommendation | 5 comments

Down the rabbit hole: The art and chaos of methamphetamine

By MATTHEW NEWTON

"Black Acid Co-op" visually explores a meth lab's inherent chaos.

If you’ve ever watched an episode of Breaking Bad, then you’re well aware of the artistry involved with cooking quality methamphetamine. Walter White (Bryan Cranston), the brilliant chemist turned high-school teacher turned drug dealer, is often told by the seediest slangers and addicts in New Mexico’s meth trade that he is, indeed, an artist.

So when I saw the photos from Black Acid Co-op (included below), Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe’s latest meth-inspired art installation at Deitch Projects’ indoor showing in Miami as part of the Wynwood Walls show, the connection between art and methamphetamine made perfect sense. For some context, here’s a primer on the installation:

Black Acid Co-Op is the moniker for a counter-culture enclave embedded in the metropolis. In this incarnation, the artists shift the focus from the production of illegal drugs to sites of sub-cultural groups and how they are situated in the larger urban environment. The installation [expands] on the notions relating to the connection between counter-culture and industrial society resulting in a spatial collage that extends itself into a vast architectural setting.

Despite the strong contrast of scenes, the entire installation [feels] as if it is a unified system of spaces, interconnected and functioning together. Ducts, wires and tubes traverse rooms creating a semblance of an organism: architecture as body, electricity as capillaries, and volumes as organs. And the intended use of many of the sites will feel transformed or hybridized: factories have become homes, kitchens are used as drug labs, the radical chic living room is frozen in a museum, the high-rise is carved into makeshift maze to evade the law. (via Deitch Projects)

What’s interesting here, and at times troubling, is how Freeman and Lowe have crafted mock-up meth labs into fascinating worlds. There are glimpses of madness of course — the controlled chaos that a meth lab represents — but there is also calculated genius. As we learn from Walter White in Breaking Bad, cooking meth — or at least, meth that will sell quickly and remain in high demand — is by no means a crude process. It requires a sharp mind and strict attention to detail — ingredients, tools, cook time, etc. I was reminded of White’s meticulous preparations when I saw Freeman and Lowe’s installations. What they have captured is the process in motion, and also the aftermath: the burned-down rooms, destroyed by human error or set with purposeful intent. These installations made me consider the lengths an individual will go to in order to make money. These photos also reminded me of Ali Winston’s August 2009 article in The Crime Report — “Cold medicines become a hot commodity” — and the startling portrait of meth use he outlined in his piece:

Over the past decade, methamphetamine use has replaced crack as the United States’ most notorious drug. Methamphetamine, the second most used drug worldwide, is traditionally prevalent in the western U.S, though it has spread throughout the rest of the country to a lesser degree. It is a highly addictive drug that can be ingested, snorted, smoked or taken orally. In 2005, a RAND Corporation study stated methamphetamine use cost the United States an estimated $23 billion annually in criminal justice, environmental clean up, addiction treatment, healthcare and other fields. (via The Crime Report)

These figures make me wonder how and why Freeman and Lowe came to choose this subject matter, as well as focus on it for the last several years in their work. The duo’s Miami showing last week was the third installment in their ongoing Black Acid Co-op series, a project that began in the dusty expanses of Marfa, Texas, in a show titled Hello Meth Lab in the Sun and surfaced again this past summer at Deitch Projects in New York. Perhaps the artists’ fascination is complicated. Or maybe the old cliche, “art imitating life,” is explanation enough. Whatever the source of inspiration, the clandestine enclaves that Freeman and Lowe have created look eerily similar to their real-world counterparts.

Photos from Freeman and Lowe’s New York showing of Black Acid Co-op at Deitch Projects in July 2009: