Akimblog
Toronto
The New AGO | James Carl at Diaz Contemporary | Heather and Ivan Morison at Clint Roenisch Gallery | Jennifer Murphy at Paul Petro | Luanne Martineau at Jessica Bradley | The Advent Show at Fine & Dandy
posted by Terence Dick - December 17th, 2008.
Now that the crowds have died down a bit, I took a Saturday morning stroll to the new AGO to see if all the gushing that’s been going on around town is really merited. I’ve decided to savour the institution for a while, so my trip was concise and focused mostly on checking out the new architecture. Very swirly. And woody. Some West Coasters I was with accused the gallery (and by association me) of ripping off BC-styles with all the wood. “Trees grow in Ontario too,” was my clever response. Luckily the building shut them up after that. Gehry did a great job collaborating with what was already there, adding his signature flow, making spaces that complement the art rather than dominate it. Maybe I wouldn’t be so conscious about this sort of thing if it weren’t for the ROM Crystal atrocity, but an important lesson is to be learned in studying how these two archi-stars completed the same task to starkly different ends.
I’ll have to save the art for another day, but will mention the pleasing placement of David Altmejd’s Venice Biennale installation out by the Grange. It’s the perfect, eye-popping intro to contemporary Canadian art for the throngs looking for Ken Thompson’s nick-nacks. Just hope you don’t have to explain the cock-man’s testicular wattle to your relatives from out of town.
James Carl, jalousie (bananier), 2008, venetian blinds
My first taste of the multi-gallery James Carl retrospective that is slowly picking up speed across southern Ontario took place at Diaz Contemporary. This new work looks on first glance to be familiar organic modernist sculptures, but of course, with Carl, first glances are deceiving. On closer examination, they are aggravating vacuums, empty vessels woven from metallic venetian blind strips. The craft is impressive. I’m tempted but afraid to touch them lest their fragile tension snaps and they collapse in an explosive rattle. Instead I spend my time circling them, wondering what they are: monoliths or houses of cards.
Heather and Ivan Morison, Wise, Beautiful, and Loving, 2008, mylar and carbon fiber
A similar delightful confusion can be experienced at Clint Roenisch Gallery. Here Wales-based artists Heather and Ivan Morison have dug deep into the recesses of crawlspaces and back alleys to create an assemblage of strange seasonal totems (an abject Christmas tree in the window) and mystical plans for escape. They are the type of artists who carry their world around with them, inhabiting a space, and transforming it for their eccentric ends. It’s a bit like a theme park for interstellar travel-obsessed survivalists. Or props from a J.G. Ballard novel.
Down the street at Paul Petro, Jennifer Murphy conjures a similar sort of magic with collaged animals, jewels and planets spread across the gallery walls. Rough-hewn mirrored orbs sit on a central table inviting visitors to contemplate their murky depths.
Luanne Martineau, Dangler, 2008, dyed wool, silk fibre, pin-felted wool, industrial felt and thread
More sculptural mischief can be found at Jessica Bradley Art + Projects. Luanne Martineau’s infernal creations are overloaded felt and fabric monstrosities that might be portraits made with entrails if only I could find a face. They resist easy readings and reward long lingering searches for a bounty of body-based art references: a cigarette by Guston, a vagina by Crumb, intestines by Bourgeois, glasses by… Woody Allen? Newer patterned work seems to be more structured, but an obsessive hand humanizes everything and fringes disrupt any sense of uniformity - not to mention inexplicable splotches of paint. Martineau has a massive toolkit with which she reassembles the last hundred years of art in disturbing and entrancing ways. As a Christmas present, Bradley has extended this exhibition until the first week of January, so there’s no excuse not to visit and study these fascinating creations.
Time is running out however for the Fine & Dandy Window Gallery’s Advent Show. Since the first of December, they’ve been replacing the name of an artist on their wall-sized calendar with a small work of art. All twenty-five will be up on Christmas Day, some are socks and some are train sets, but there’s something for everyone… as long as you’ve been nice. Ho, ho, ho.
Terence Dick is a freelance writer living in Toronto. His art criticism has appeared in Canadian Art, BorderCrossings, Prefix Photo, Camera Austria, Fuse, Mix, C Magazine, and The Globe and Mail. He is the editor of Akimblog.
Art Gallery of Ontario: http://www.ago.net/
Diaz Contemporary: http://www.diazcontemporary.ca/
James Carl: jalousie continues until January 17.
Clint Roenisch Gallery: http://www.clintroenisch.com/
Heather and Ivan Morison: The Bad Years (How to Survive) continues until December 21.
Paul Petro Contemporary Art: http://www.paulpetro.com/
Jennifer Murphy: Rose Weights and Other Works continues until December 20.
Jessica Bradley Art + Projects: http://www.jessicabradleyartprojects.com/
Luanne Martineau: Starshake has been extended until January 10.
Fine & Dandy Window Gallery: 2017 Dundas Street West