Reviews
CIRCUMFERENCE
BEYOND THE EXPECTED FACE
Runs until May 29
DEAR PM
Runs until June 12
Art Gallery of Calgary
Prime ministerial communications, rolls of cellophane and a series of portraits of anonymous subjects make up the latest offerings from the Art Gallery of Calgary (AGC).
On the main floor of the gallery, more than 30 unidentified subjects from Vancouver-based artist Jeff Burgess are featured in an exhibition of work he calls Beyond the Expected Face.
Using the same studio for all of his models, Burgess first photographs them using what he describes as garish lighting, then employs these studies as the basis for his paintings and drawings.
The anonymous subjects are lined up in rows on the gallery’s walls. Some face straight ahead with plaintive looks, while others appear in profile. With the exception of the series of subjects who are depicted laughing, these are people caught in fretful boredom, their faces in deep shadow.
The result is a demonstration of how an exhibition can be more about the artist and technique being employed than about the work that hangs on the walls of the gallery. This is, of course, intended to lead viewers to speculate "beyond the expected face." Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t; and in the end I found myself being more interested in the people on the walls peering back at me than about the artist who created their likenesses and his techniques.
Downstairs in the gallery is an exhibition entitled Circumference from local artist Marcus Beil. A collection of five steel skeletons covered in plastic wrap – four downstairs and one curiously orphaned on an upper level of the gallery – Beil describes these sculptures as cello-forms.
These are magical works that at the time I saw them, near high noon, shimmered in the daylight entering the gallery. One of the largest pieces hangs on the wall like some giant luminescent slug and looks as if at any moment it might slither away.
Circumference challenges the idea that sculptural works need to be made out of expensive materials to have an impact. Beil’s creations are whimsical and alluring forms that deliver on the artist’s original conception.
And finally, in the upstairs space of the gallery, we find Dear PM from Montrealer Chris Lloyd. His form of art is to e-mail the prime minister of Canada every day. It says in the text panel that accompanies the floor-to-ceiling exhibition of posted e-mail that Lloyd has been engaging in this activity daily since January 1, 2001. Yet, if you spend any time reading his missives, this clearly is not the case. For example, on February 7, 2001 he writes to Jean Chrétien, "Sorry I haven’t written in a while…."
You can’t really blame the guy. Lloyd must have to take some time off to run his blog (www.dearpm.blogspot.com) and perhaps even get away from his computer to get some fresh air on occasion.
Whether this is art, political satire or just a way for Lloyd to spend some of his time is open to debate. But if your idea of a fun time is reading banal e-mail sent to two prime ministers (so far), by all means rush over to the AGC to view this show. |
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.