VoCA would love to see a Canadian cultural institution bring The Puppet Show, on view from Saturday at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, here.

It originated at the ICA at the University of Pennsylvania and will travel next to the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington (May 16 – September 13, 2009). See it if you can!

The Puppet Show poses a larger cultural question: Why do puppets matter now?

Hand puppets made by Paul Klee; in the collection of Felix Klee. The centre puppet is a self-portrait. Image: britannica.com/felix klee

The exhibition takes as a point of departure one of the first episodes of avante-garde art history: Alfred Jarry’s 1896 play Ubu Roi that was conceived as a puppet show. Ubu’s reign continues with the work of the South African artist William Kentridge in collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company.

VoCA has long been fascinated by puppets, and The Puppet Show, which is on from January 17 – April 12, 2009 features works by today’s most interesting contemporary artists, including VoCA favorites William Kentridge, Pierre Huyghe, Louise Bourgeois, Maurizio Cattelan and Bruce Nauman.

Click HERE for more info on this important show.

Image from Woyzeck on the Highveld, William Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Company.
Image: brisbanepowerhouse.org

Ydessa Hendeles recently made Punch and Judy central to her show Dead! Dead! Dead! last year, and we have found a fascinating book on (one of VoCA’s very favorite artists), the Swiss artist Paul Klee‘s amazing hand puppets, crafted for his son Felix between 1916 and 1925. Klee’s puppets were based on Punch and Judy at first, before he developed his own characters, including the Monk, the Ghost of a Scarecrow and the Electrical Spook.

Buy this amazing book HERE.