On August 10, 2003, James Tantum had three orgasms. In the same month, on a very particular day of a different year, he was depressed. And he went on the Internet for the first time by himself in 1998, March 15 to be exact. The ordinary, daily occurrences of conceptual artist James Tantum are recorded in the slots of a wall calendar, spanning well over two decades in sublime practicality, all on display for your voyeuristic pleasure at little tree gallery.

For his show, “Time Matters,” Tantum uses mixed media, including video installation and photography, to explore the mundane efforts of living and the attempt to live as an engaged citizen of the world. He seems to be a mild-mannered man, burdened by his bland ineffectuality and perhaps his obligation as a human to care about something. So he decides to fight the good fight, become a supplicant for all forms of subjugation. And using blandness as a weapon of the bland, he chooses: oatmeal. Of course.

In his hand-crafted book, “The Great Oatmeal Protest,” Tantum takes the viewer along a one week protest of passive resistance in November of 1987. Expressing his lack of commitment to any one cause, Tantum decides to campaign for activism in its entirety, every cause at once. He goes on a sort of hunger strike, inflicting on himself the bland taste and sludgy texture of oatmeal for every meal for seven days. Who knew that the mushroomy-hued glop could be a revolutionary tool? Through one meal, he fights to save the whales, assist Vietnam, another meal: nuclear arms, seal clubbing, corruption. The joke is of course that this type of activism is ineffective if not publicized, and as the book is over ten years old and this is the first time it’s been made public, the act is clearly futile. Oatmeal: in the thick of it, Tantum spreads himself too thin.

Of all the works, perhaps the video, “Perfection,” is the most successfully evocative piece. And appropriately so (it’s in the title, right?). In the video, the artist loops a sequence of historical figures interspersed with everyday objects: Hitler, Elvis, pizza, Levi’s, the moon landing, a cityscape, Nixon, MLK, ice cream, the Constitution. It’s about the strive for perfection versus the actualization of it. It’s about absolutes. The exactly perfect. Hitler: perfect evil. Ice cream: perfect good.

Conceptual art is hard to deal with. Sometimes it’s a bit portentous, and it requires context and pretext to succeed. But Tantum’s work, although specific to his routines and worldview and drawn from decades of experience and history, remains relevant and exceedingly clever. “Time Matters” does not ask the viewer to know a full text of facts and statistics or understand grand literary and mythic allusions. It asks the viewer to reflect on his or her own life and the everyday world we are a part of. Simple. Basic. With a lot to chew over.

--Jolene Torr

(*Images from top to bottom: James Tantum, Time Matters, February 23 - March 22, 2008; little tree gallery, The Great Oatmeal Protest: 20th Anniversary Edition, 2007, digital xerography, 9 1/8” x 6 1/8”, courtesy of the Artist and little tree gallery.  James Tantum, Time Matters, February 23 - March 22, 2008; little tree gallery, 5% Art Coupon, 2008, digital xerography on Stonehenge paper, 8 5/8” x 3 7/8”, courtesy of the Artist and little tree gallery.  James Tantum, Time Matters, February 23 - March 22, 2008; little tree gallery, Perfection (Video Still), 2008, DVD, 3:18, courtesy of the Artist and little tree gallery.  James Tantum, Time Matters, February 23 - March 22, 2008; little tree gallery, What I Wore Most Often, 2006, 2008, LightJet print, 23 1/2” x 12”, courtesy of the Artist and little tree gallery.)