The life of corporate America is indisputably boring for the average American. With the routine life, dull workspace, long hours - amongst other irritations - it is difficult to see why most people who find themselves trapped into such a lifestyle are not registered as clinically insane. Tim Best’s Axe #1 & Axe # 2 offers an amusingly accurate interpretation of what it must feel like for the individual who participates unwillingly in such a setting. The works depict two hostile photographs of the artist, dressed in an appropriately corporate suit, holding a bright yellow axe. Due to the rigid nature of corporate life, with its strict conformity and encouraged loss of identity for many of its perpetuators (should that read perpetrators?), the very idea of a man in such violent rebellion is an unlikely image. It seems to depict the frustration with one’s inability to voice opinions or thoughts in an environment that does not condone such behavior. Conformity has driven this man to the edge of psychosis. However, despite the menacing attitude seen in both images, there is an element of comedy involved. This same comedy is strangely reminiscent to both the novel and the movie American Psycho. In that story, a young successful Wall Street entrepreneur named Patrick Bateman loses his grip on reality. In one scene in particular, Bateman, dressed in a suit and raincoat, murders a coworker with an axe. The scenario is very much the same as what is being displayed in Best’s work. Both are tragic-comic takes on the monotonous lifestyle known in the corporate workforce. Even something as simple as the posture of the subject diverts the viewer’s attention away from the violent implications of the act represented. His facial expressions, although wrought with emotion, are distorted in a manner that one may find at once childish and entertaining. Much as with an infant, it is difficult to regard such a harmless and mild-mannered figure as a threat. There is a sort of humor that can be found in Tim’s work. While screaming a cautionary message, a cry for reform, it remains comical and light-hearted.
Nick Sherman