pics, words – fish
dc3 Art Projects continues its streak of gripping conceptual multimedia art with Our Families, which closes Saturday.
Simple-noun concepts – for example the “hands” of this spring’s Manus at Jackson Power – often make for terrific explorations as the mountain is dropped, but each artist’s path works around, through or above it.
Curated by David Candler, the family-themed art is a sometimes-revolutionary approach to the subject matter, from Paul Freeman’s photographic series of misfit animal remains embracing one another through Evergon’s insistent nudes of his 83-year-old mother – by her request – showing for the first time in Western Canada.
The show’s pinnacle is easily one of the most important photos of the last century. Felix was captured by AA Bronson in 1994, just hours after its subject died of AIDS.
Candler, who worked with HIV-infected patients during the plague governments so long neglected, noted in the gallery how many of these human figures turned visually Christlike. Both Bronson and Felix Partz were part of the stellar, media- and stunt-based Canadian collective General Idea.
Bronson writes, “Felix suffered from extreme wasting, and at the time of his death his eyes could not be closed: there was not enough flesh left on the bone.
“Dear Felix, by the act of exhibiting this image I declare that we are no longer of one mind, one body. I return you to General Idea’s world of mass media, there to function without me.”
For this loaned and rare print alone, visit the gallery – Thursday nights, 6 – 9, Saturday 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Works following include the most striking portraits by Tammy Sazl; Mona Sharma’s soft sculpture piece, Grandma, which depicts an Indian burial pyre (a Calgary flood-damage survivor); Wren Noble’s charming images of a late-life couple who dress exactly the same; a charming moment from the video Dider and Francois (son and father) called In Be; and symbolism-laden paintings by Marion Wagschal.
See this show at 10567 111 St. while there’s time, it’s clever, important and beautiful.
o<
Instagram ~ @fisheyefoto
title pic repeats for web 2.0:
