| Experiencing being Blown |
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by Rachel Molnar the Carillon A different sort of latex and PVC fun The faint smell of latex is noticeable as one enters the Blown exhibit currently showing at the Dunlop and Sherwood Village Art Galleries. Guests to the Dunlop Art Gallery will soon discover this odor emanates from two large latex body suits. These suits are accompanied by a video clip demonstrating their use by a couple, walking hand and hand through a park in Quebec City. Puzzling, fantastical and slightly bizarre, the pair slowly meanders in their ‘Uniblow Suits,’ inflating the suits with each step they take. What should one make of such “rubbery” exploits? Perhaps the use of these suits reflects a desire or fantasy to live within a self-contained world, detached and cut off from the surrounding environment and other people. The use of these suits evoke thoughts of science fiction, of humans in far away times, possibly wearing such suits to counter whatever dangers appear. Visitors to the display wishing to experience the suits for themselves are invited to try them on and walk about the gallery in their own inflatable world. As you move further into the gallery, two human forms made of spinnaker and fans rest on the floor, as air passing between them inflates and deflates each in their turn. There is as sense of fragility surrounding the figures: just as one seems to represent the shell of humanity left with the exhalation of a last breath, the other figure expands with the inspiration of life. The balance between the two seems to mimic the rhythmic ebb and flow of human existence and experience with their continual movement of creation and decline. A piece at the Sherwood Village branch titled Aspiration: Breathing for Peace 2003, is presented accompanied with a recording of former United States President Harry S. Truman’s address outside the United Nations Building in 1949. The piece’s soft fabric and clean, white shapes seem to echo Truman’s words, “No single nation can always have its own way, for these are human problems, and the solution of human problems is to be found in negotiation and mutual adjustment.” This piece was first shown the day U.S. President George W. Bush began his attack upon Iraq with a series of carpet bombings. The atmosphere at the Dunlop gallery feels slightly surreal, almost womb-like, with the sounds of inhaled and exhaled air; whimsical with huge clouds floating above the ground; festive with inflated shapes and a large, colourful floating car. Diverse materials such as latex balloons, aluminum, galvanized steal, fiberglass, gel coat and PVC are used throughout the exhibits. The pieces shown at the two galleries can be interpreted in innumerable ways, are thought provoking and a wonderful display of contemporary art. Blown has made its way to Regina thanks to guest curator Donna Wawzonek and is showing at the Dunlop Art Gallery and at the Sherwood Village Branch Gallery until Oct. 25. The Sherwood Village Branch show contains five pieces, while the display at the Dunlop Gallery contains eight. The show has been organized by the Dunlop Art Gallery and co-produced with Kenderdine Art Gallery. The exhibition features works from Seema Goel, Ana Rewakowicz, Max Streicher and Robert Zingone, from Regina, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax respectively. |