The nine-piece musical ensemble Panther Heart performed “Panther Heart Defeats the Dire Wolf, Part 1″—the first installment of a series of musical narratives, which also graced the EXPO building in June. The space was packed to capacity on November 16 for the final exhibition at the Society Gallery. The crowd clumped around the stage, wrestling to find a burlap sack seat to view not only the band, but also the multi-colored yarn installation created by Amy Solis. The remaining spectators spilled out the gallery door and into the industrial-commercial streets of the North Pine neighborhood. Part festival, part installation, part happening, Panther Heart orchestrated the journey of the twisted fate of the dire wolf.
The pungent smell of freshly poured mulch and the sweet aroma of incense and candle wax wafted through the air as Panther Heart founder, Chris Lyles’ wrapped cylindrical sculptures simulated the arbor residents of an ancient forest—the setting for the musical composition. The theatrical gel lighting in hues of green and red aptly lit the soft coils of Solis’ woven organism.
According to the artist, the piece has been installed several times and in each setting it looks slightly different. Becoming more knotted with each use, the piece embodies the beauty of decay and embraces chaos. The cozy material inside the gallery seemed to be aggressively multiplying like a virus, devouring light fixtures and the internal architecture. Yet, this appearance was an illusion, a consequence of the shifting balance amongst art, audience and space throughout the evening.
The combination of the materialist and musical components supplemented by an ethereal projection behind the stage produced a multi-sensorial experience. Typifying installation art—a method of working that emerged in the 1960s—Solis and Panther Heart staged a scene for viewers. No longer passive-receivers but active meaning-producers, the equation transformed viewers into actors within the story. Art historian Claire Bishop writes, that unlike a work of art where the viewer contemplates a single object from afar, installation art often involves multiple objects or an entire museum setting, creating a “situation” for the whole body that heightens each of the senses and brings greater awareness to the individual. Therefore, by definition, it is ephemeral and depends on the presence of an audience to complete it.
Panther heart stages the musical narrative, traversing through various chapters while the viewer resides in an ancient forest.
Panther Heart’s epic narrates a seemingly ancient tale, taken from the illustrative repertoire of a traveling minstrel or the tattered pages of a stylized medieval manuscript. In fact, this story is not a re-appropriated text but was inspired by Lyles’ personal experience with a distant woman living in a community-housing unit. After repeated rebuffs the woman finally smiled at him.
The composition began tenderly, softly illuminated by the graceful strumming of Lyles on the harp. The story was organized into six different moods each seeming to function as the musical equivalent to stanzas. Musical players collaborated sometimes in harmony other times solo to produce different chapters. “The River Ghost,” “Transformation” and “Shaman” (to name a few), each provided important context and character development. The story takes a dark turn early in the tale after the female wolf drinks from a cursed river. She transforms into a possessed creature and “raw anger” takes over her soul. She loses site of her role in a harmonious social structure and commits infanticide against her cubs. Panther Heart pounded out lyric-less sensations driven by harmonized chanting of solitude, desolation and profound sadness.
There is not adequate space to address each musician’s specific contribution but it is worth noting that each gave a fearless performance, pouring energy and compassion into every stroke and strike. “Part 1” provided this dark climax yet it did not provide a resolve. Perhaps this is a strategic move on the part of Panther Heart? Participants departed energized and anxious for the next installment.
Desolation Radio opened for the Long Beach gem. Panther Heart is: Pam Gartner (Keys, Melodica, Vocals), Teri Gartner (Glockenspiel, Percussion, Vocals), Lisa Narinian (Glockenspiel, Percussion, Vocals), Jose Serna (Guitar, Vocals), Chris Lyles, (Keys, Harp, Vocals), Pat Whatley (Guitar, Vocals, Trumpet), Jason Cordero (Bass, Vocals), Ryan Serano (Drums, Glockenspiel) and Guillermo Luna (Cello, Vocals). www.pantherheart.com. Eight out of nine members of the group reside in the city of Long Beach.
—Second Photo: Audience members commune on burlap sacks meditatively savoring the smell and ambiance of candles, incense, and fresh mulch.
Tracy C. Teran is an arts professional and independent scholar. She can be reached at tracycteran@gmail.com.
For more background on Panther Heart and Part 1 of the collective’s performance art epic, read our interview with them from earlier this year.