Review
CANADIANA
Runs until January 15
Skew Gallery
(1615 — 10th Ave. S.W.)
What is this land we call Canada, beyond hockey, maple syrup and snow? It’s a question that’s perhaps better left to soul-searching nationalists and a few artists.
At Skew Gallery an exhibition entitled Canadiana explores the stereotypes, prods some propaganda and presents a few works that poke fun at who we are – or at least, who we think we are.
Colwyn Griffith (a Canadian living in New York) presents candy-coated Canadian landscapes constructed of marshmallows, pretzels and a whole assortment of sweet bits. Building elaborate models that sit atop glass tables, Griffith then trains his large format camera on the miniaturized sets, which are lit from all angles, giving the resulting photos a warm glow.
One of his best pieces is the igloo made from miniature marshmallows. What Canadian hasn’t seen some old National Film Board movie of an Inuit hunter carving blocks of ice out of the ground to build his home for the night? Yet with Griffith’s candy igloo there is a feeling of pathos. What is absurd and funny at first, becomes over time a sad homage to a culture that is often touted as Canadian but no longer exists. Griffith taps into self-created images of Canada and then throws them back into our faces with bittersweet calculation.
In a similar vein is the work of Winnipeg-based artist Simon Hughes, who takes on more Canadian stereotypes in his watercolours with stick-on "Eskimo" figures. In his view of the north, the Arctic Ocean is filled with icebergs and a tiny rowboat, with an even smaller parka-clad figure inside rowing to an unseen shore. Heavy-handed symbolism to be sure, but effective nonetheless.
Paul Butler is another Winnipeg-based artist who weighs in on the debate. This time, the Alberta College of Art and Design grad presents more collages of pure Canadiana. Here are pictures of vast prairies, crafted from American magazines – what could be more Canadian than that?
In Edward Bader’s watercolours we are confronted by a Canada dominated by white. Tucked into the corner of each piece is an image: a trailer park, a truck, some flags. And then nothing but white. Is Canada an open land covered in a thick blanket of snow, or a dangerous place lacking in colour?
And finally, Calgarian Don Mabie presents three digital prints of Canadian and American images thrown together to create a colourful stew of symbolism. All three prints are well-conceived, but Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, the red-serge-wearing RCMP of Hollywood fame, is a perfect figure to represent the idea behind this exhibition.
Whether Canadiana exists, or if it is merely a figment of our collective imaginations, remains an open question. What is answered while viewing Canadiana is just how many of our self-definitions can be traced back to a mythology of a place – a fantasy of a frozen land filled with people who call themselves Canadians… whatever that means. |
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