The following review is from the L.A. Weekly:
Steven Durland and Francisco Letelier: Hierarchy of Needs
"Hierarchy
of Needs" may, just may, exemplify a new kind of sociopolitical art,
one in which the tone of the address is thoughtful rather than strident,
the address itself hopeful as well as urgent, and the social context being
addressed pan- rather than simply multicultural. "Hierarchy,"
a collaboration between Francisco Letelier and Steven Durland, focuses
on topical issues--the entrance into the installation clearly evokes the
recent upheaval--but turns them into broader, more enduring concerns,
through gentle as well as harsh imagery, poetical as well as hortatory
words, and exquisite as well as rough-hewn handicraft. Durland is mainly
responsible for the latter; despite the fact that the South Dakota native
is best known as the editor of High Performance magazine (and author
of its caustically funny insert Tacit), it is Chilean-born Letelier
who has contributed the (bilingual) writing, as well as most of the two-dimensional
imagery. "Hierarchy" shows off the artistic strengths of both
collaborators, but also makes it clear that it doesn't matter who did
what. The whole is more than a sum of parts, more than a dialogue between
artist-thinkers, certainly more than an opportunity to display virtuosic
skills. "Hierarchy" subsumes the abilities and visions of its
contributors into an ambiance that doesn't just convey the message but
is the message. It's a landscape-size message, one that conflates
the physical and social requirements of humans, civilization's effect
on these requirements, and the presence of nature both as a source of
fulfillment and as a needful organism itself. The person-size waterfall
in the middle of the mazelike installation says it all, capping a very
ambitious project with a very intimate touch.
--Peter Frank, L.A. Weekly
