LOVED: The excellent craftsmanship of Quebec artist collective BGL at Diaz Contemporary.
Their sculptures are amusing and quite wonderful at challenging our expectations – especially the large format photograph (the same type that VoCA ‘Loathed’ several weeks ago) that literally falls off the wall every so often with a loud crash, before being pulled back to into position.
Click HERE to see images from the works on view.
The group says: “We like to put the work of art somewhere else than where people expect it. If we think about the photographs the viewer walks in and thinks, ‘Ah, what do we have here?’ But for us, the photos are not what is important. We don’t care. For us, the work of art is the piece falling.â€
The show runs from October 20 – 17 November 2007.
BGL, Le discours des elements de BGL, 2006. Image: quebecscene.ca
The collective has another show up at the Koffler Gallery, Toronto. BGL: la senteur de mes mains/The marks of my hands is on through November 25, 2007. Click HERE for information on this exhibition.
LOATHED: Shoddy workmanship.
A work by David Altmejd at Birch Libralato. Image: birchlibralato.com
It was great to see the beautiful piece by erstwhile Canadian art star David Altmejd at Birch Libralato Gallery in Toronto. The artist, who isn’t represented by any Canadian galleries, contributed a large sculptural piece – a structured clean Plexiglas box draped with an elaborate sequence of delicate gold chains - to a show curated by gallery artist Micah Lexier.
We loved the piece until we got up close and noticed a huge broken hole at the bottom. Though it wasn’t very noticeable, it was most definitely there and took away from the pleasing symmetricality of the piece.
Micah Lexier explained how the artist embraces imperfections in his work, but VoCA doesn’t buy that. Perhaps we would feel differently if there was an apparent specific reason why the hole was there. We only hope that (although he shouldn’t have to), the well-known, flamboyant supporter of the arts who purchased the piece takes the time and expense to repair it.
The exhibition, which also includes paintings on linen by Renate Anger and Eric Cameron, runs October 20 – 17 November, 2007.
Visit the gallery’s website HERE.
Andrea Carson writes on contemporary art, architecture and design...
3 comments ↓
No doubt. This is a good example of the majority of the work that is found in Toronto galleries. With the exception of a few galleries the trend is “a mess”.
I think you could push your analysis of Altmejd’s work further - perhaps a plexi - glass box with a barely noticeable big hole in it and the word SPIT etched in caps is actually not about “pleasing symmetricality”. Perhaps, like BGL, the guy is just amusingly wonderfully messing with viewer expectations.
Yes, perhaps. Perhaps the hole is there on purpose, but perhaps it isn’t and “messing with viewer expectations” is a way of justifying it. Who knows?
I would probably argue that although the hole is not that noticable, it says a lot about the artist’s commitment to his work, especially given how much it sells for…
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