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You know when you see something that is ugly and crass in a lot of ways, but you feel inextricably drawn to it? My current handbag meets this description, as does, to a certain extent, the paintings of Toronto artist Ted Tucker. Tucker works in the A/V department at the Ontario College of Art and Design by day, parties heartily by night and paints it all... well I don't know when he finds time to paint it all, but when he does the results are a cross between Ridgemont High and Rossetti.
It's macho, adolescent, Porky's style frat fantasy—and for some reason I really, really like it. Partly it's the cheese factor—his graphic style speaks, as so few painters do, to a generation raised on crappy movies and crappier movie posters. Partly it's the technical skill—Tucker's a dab hand with the brush, to be sure. And partly it's just downright funny, which always gets me in art admiration.
So I was glad to talk with Tucker more about his practice this week; the condensed version of our chat is published in today's National Post. Click here to read the Post, or continue on after the jump to read a slightly expanded version with more of Tucker's images.
The following is an edited version of an interview that took place over the phone July 14, 2008 between artist Ted Tucker and critic Leah Sandals. The interview was held on the occasion of a show of Tucker's work at Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto.
Q Why is your show called NC-17?
A I'm into exploring this film genre I wasn't allowed to watch as a child: incredibly taboo movies rated NC-17. But during adolescence you start living the NC-17 lifestyle. So as a way to tell a story about that period of my life, I adopted themes or aesthetics from movies in that genre. Artist Rory Dean, who's also showing work in the gallery, deals with related ideas.
Q Could you name some of these films?
A Even though I couldn't watch them at home, every sleepover would have crass teen comedies and slasher movies like Child's Play, Porky's, Animal House, Friday the 13th. Admittedly not all fell under the NC-17 rating. But they were all still taboo to me.
Q The content is Ridgemont High, then, but the style is Rosetti. Why use such a classical realist form?
A When I was a kid I loved the covers of Hardy Boys books. I didn't want to read them, I just loved the way they were painted. Older, pre-digital movie posters, too. At six or seven I wasn't in an atelier but I was into the Goonies poster, you know? I also paint because I'm a big fan of classical painting. And if I paint well, these might get a bit more legitimacy.
Q These are also part of a bigger series called Hippocampus after a brain part that organizes memory. How did that series develop?
A For years I was just painting things, like, "Oh what's in the media, I' ll paint about war or beauty pageants or whatever's in the news." Then I wanted to illustrate more personal stories, but they just looked like boring snapshots. So I looked back to the days when a walnut on a table could be a symbol of a crucifix, where you had to solve symbols to get to a bigger thing. I started laying out all these memories that were really selective. No one remembers exactly what happened at summer camp, but you've got a story you've been telling your friends for years, that kind of thing. And I just started putting it together. I thought of the Hippocampus as a university campus and I put all my teenage memories there. The symbols are everything from beer kegs to chalices.
Q You went to art school and you work in an art college A/V department, yet your mythical life takes place in a populist setting of jocks and frats. How much of this is about fantasy fulfilment?
A I grew up in Ottawa across the street fromHillcrest High School, and I went to a performing arts school around the corner called Canterbury. I played sports with all the athletes in the neighbourhood, and I went to school with artists. I walked through it all. And honestly, my friends are burly jock painters. In art history there is this crazy machismo, like Ab Ex painters getting hammered all the time. So we're hard-partying goodtime guys, but we're also all into this Pre-Raphaelite genre. You're right though, if you brought us to a football game we'd probably get beaten up.
Q So what's the story behind, say, Hillcrest III? If it was a real movie, who would direct it?
A In the real story, Hillcrest High School left the door of the tech shop open all summer and my friend stole its motorbike, and we rode it around … until the paperboy took it. As for directing, I would hope for John Landis.
Q What's next for you?
A Well, it's all turning into a kind of illuminated manuscript. I'm trying to find a way to articulate this story digitally, too. With painting, I don't get my point across fast enough. It's like, I've got a great idea, come talk to me in three months. One of these paintings took me 500 hours tomake. By the end I hope I will be making big, incredible images that are comparable to someone making a movie. I hope to make one second of Lord of the Rings; that would be as exciting as making a Rubens.
Q One last question: what have your parents had to say, considering that their childhood restrictions partly shaped the work?
A My mother looked at that painting Road Rockets and said, " I don’t know how you managed to created your best friends’ house from childhood." She said, "You really are painting your nieghbourhood and your summer camp."
www.cuttsgallery.com
www.tedtucker.ca
Friday, July 18, 2008
Interview: Ted Tucker on his NC-17 painting practice
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Art Gossip Update: Franklin to sue? Says who? (new info added)
An update regarding my recent post on the gossip, somewhat mishandled in the press, of the National Gallery's David Franklin going "on leave":
The Ottawa Citizen was again in the lead yesterday in breaking the story that Franklin might be taking the Gallery to court. CultureGrrl followed today. The Ceeb and the Globe haven't yet bitten for this part II.
Just a few moments ago, the National Gallery issued a press release to the contrary, likely intended to combat the bad PR:
"The National Gallery is delighted to announce the exclusive presentation of the exhibition Raphael to Carracci: The Art of Papal Rome on view May 29 to September 6, 2009. Deputy Director and Chief Curator, David Franklin, continues to devote his efforts, with the collaboration of an international team of curators and scholars, to this unique exhibit of one of the most important periods in history of western art.
Dr. Franklin has been working hard and focussing his efforts on assembling what is expected to be the largest exhibit of major pieces of art from the Renaissance Rome period (1500 to 1600) ever held outside of Rome itself. The exhibit will feature approximately 150 loans from some of the world’s largest and most renowned private and public collections.
As the exhibition lead curator, Dr. David Franklin, was released from his institutional duties to support his writing of the main essay and numerous catalogue entries and he is also acting as editor of the exhibition catalogue. With more than 32 contributing authors from Canada and abroad, Franklin will ensure that the content reflects the exhibition theme."
I will be following the Citizen on this one; they seem to be closest to the tale. Yet I'm still surprised that no commentary has been sought from an "expert" source in the arts community about Franklin's value to the gallery; that still seems to be taken for granted, but it really shouldn't be to papers dealing with a general readership. Further, since there's been little confirmation from the Gallery, the court, or Franklin himself about any suit, the story still seems a bit thin.
Update July 18: There was another media followup today—looks like the Globe tried to do some of their own digging but still, no one's talking. Even the elusive Franklin is simply quoted as emailing : "Hard at work on my Vatican exhibition for next summer at the NGC....Should be spectacular" It's still unclear why the court proceedings (if there are any) are closed to the public.
Interview: Joan Stebbins on Southern Alberta's artistic advantages
(This post has been corrected to clarify Joan Stebbins' career development. Apologies to Stebbins and the SAAG for any misunderstanding.)
Every area of Canada has its own artistic advantages and disadvantages. I spent my teen years and part of my 20s in southern Alberta—and while I hated the conservative politics, I loved the consequent sense of tight-knitness and support in the arts community. It's also kind of nice to be away from the reputed centres of creativity, as it lightens the pressure on curating and artmaking efforts. And that intense, pure, high-altitude light shining on a big-sky landscape—I'll take it over a smoggy, hazy Toronto heatwave any day.
Joan Stebbins (pictured above with artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller) understands my yearnings, I think. For more than 25 years she headed up the Southern Alberta Art Gallery's very strong and inventive programming, even earning an Order of Canada for her efforts last year. Lethbridge, after all, is a wee arts powerhouse of a kind, breeding everything from the world-renowned sound walks and installations of Cardiff and Bures Miller to the less well known but just as powerful works of David Hoffos. Stebbins has been a key part of all that. But since her well-deserved retirement this summer winter, she's moving onto other things, which may soon include curating a young painters show and visiting the Sharjah Biennial. She told (or typed) me all about it in a recent email exchange published today at Canadian Art Online. Click here to read the exchange with some pics of Stebbins' last official project as director/head, or continue on after the jump for the full transcript.
The following is an email exchange between Joan Stebbins and Leah Sandals that took place between July 11 and July 14, 2008. The emails were exchanged on the occasion of a Marie-Josee Laframboise show at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery that had been curated by Stebbins, as well as the occasion of Stebbins retiring this past year from her longtime post as full-time curator of the SAAG.
LS: Why did you bring Marie-Josée Laframboise to the SAAG?
JS:I've been following her work for a number of years. I thought her sculpture would be an interesting adjunct to the architecturally-based exhibition (Common Ground, Yvonne Lammerich, Jean van Wijk, Nicholas Wade) that I was planning in the same time slot for our larger gallery space. I knew her net installation would look spectacular in the upper gallery with its clerestory windows and natural light..
LS: What do you think is so interesting about her work? When and how did you first encounter it?
JS: Marie-Josée is basically a landscape artist, but she works three-dimensionally. For her net installation, she studies topographical maps of the region in which she is showing, and then installs her netting to reflect some of that. But, of course, that is just one part of her practice. I first saw her sculpture in 2001 in Point de chute an exhibition Louise Déry curated for Galerie de l’UQAM. In retrospect, it was a brilliant curatorial stroke on her part: she presented five young Montreal artists who have since become rather well known; along with Marie-Josée, there was the work of David Altmejd, Jérôme Fortin, Raphaëlle de Groot and Manuela Lalic.
LS: What does the installation in the SAAG consist of?
JS: In 2003 Marie-Josée participated in a residency and exhibition, Within/Without at Kunstraum Dornbirn in Austria. She was struck by the pale green netting they used there to protect their trees, so she purchased a continuous 40 metre length of the fabric which is 6 metres wide. She completed her first net installation there and has done a number of them since; even one in the space of her then Montreal dealer Pierre-François Ouellette. SAAG’s exhibition is lit entirely by natural light, therefore light becomes part of the piece; the work changes by the hour. She is using the architecture of the gallery space to contain her net; the combination offers a rare opportunity to the viewer. I like to think of her “casting the net;” that’s very Canadian. She has used only 30 metres of her net for our installation; the remainder is coiled on the floor of the gallery space.
LS: Will the show travel?
JS: SAAG is partnering with the Musée de Joliette on a publication in which Marie-Josée’s installation will be documented, but I don’t think they are including that work in their exhibition next May; in any case, it is totally site-specific, so it wouldn’t be the same work. I’m sure anyone interested in hosting the net installation could contact Marie-Josée. It’s sort of “have net; will travel”.
LS: You recently did a show of Shary Boyle's work with a substantial catalogue. What convinced you it was time for a publication like that for Shary?
JS: SAAG is interested in documenting exhibitions with a publication. This is often achieved by partnering with another institution. In Shary’s case, it was Conundrum Press in Montreal. The publication was already in the works when we invited Shary to exhibit. Rather than strike out on our own, we were pleased to be able to contribute to a really superb publishing project. The book is amazing and we are proud to be part of it.
LS: Since when have you followed Boyle's practice? What drew you to it in the first place?
JS: I drop by all of the major commercial galleries when I am in Toronto. Aside from the work on display, there is a lot of stuff in the back areas that you can look at and I enjoy talking with the dealers. In an odd way, I think I’ve learned more from this process in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, than by going to institutional exhibitions (which of course I also do). When Jessica Bradley opened her gallery a few years ago, she let me know of a number of young artists that excited her; Shary was one of them; I did a studio visit and she just blew me away. Here’s somebody that spent three years learning to work with porcelain and mastered the art of lace-draping. Her subversive porcelain work is brilliant. But…she also does incredible paintings, drawings, zines, projections and performance. I can’t believe her national profile is so low; but that’s very Canadian too, isn’t it?
LS: You’ve just retired from full-time work at the SAAG. What were some of your favourite moments working as a curator at there or elsewhere? (I suspect this Laframboise show might be one of them, but I'm sure there were others…)
JS: I worked at SAAG for 28 years; for me there was value in staying with one institution. I’ve seen a lot of art and done hundreds of studio visits; by the time I invited artists to show, I was totally committed to them and their work. I didn’t really curate in the traditional sense, as I believe in the judgement of the artist and we worked it out together. So, for me, your question is like asking a mother which of her children she likes best. I will say that I am particularly attracted to artists who reflect something back to us about where we are and who we are. We are located in a spectacular part of the country. I have often invited artists to interpret that for us from their own point of view. Marie-Josée Laframboise is one of those.
LS: What's your take on the programs now springing up across the country to train curators of contemporary art? What was your own training like in comparison?
JS: These often emphasize theory; I think practice is the real teacher. I have a degree in studio art and was lucky to have a wonderful mentor at SAAG in Alf Bogusky; it was all very practical, but enormously inspiring. Somewhere in there, I learned that looking at work was of paramount importance; I have looked at work continually across Canada and abroad for many years. New York’s art museums provide a wonderful glimpse into beautifully curated exhibitions that really privilege the work of the artist; that’s always been a model for me.
LS: What are you looking forward to doing now that you are no longer committed full-time to a gallery? (Curating independently? Travelling? Enjoying life at home?)
JS: I would love to do a show of young painters; it seems to me that painting is rearing its head once again. I think teachers such as Eleanor Bond in Montreal and many others are turning out these really accomplished new artists. It reminds me of when I started curating in the ‘80s; wonderful installation artists were coming out of NSCAD, OCA, and ACA; I believe it was because of the teaching. Yes, travelling is on the agenda. The Sharjah Biennial is next on my list. My youngest son and family are presently living there. Life at home is a priority; I have a huge cookbook collection that requires curating and a partner that needs a bit of attention too. I also have my ongoing dinner table of visiting artists.
LS: What have you most enjoyed about working in Southern Alberta? And least?
JS: Well, this does seem to be a very isolated and weird place to work; however, it has its benefits. One is the fantastic natural environment that we encounter every day; the light quality here is amazing, I often sit for hours watching it play out on the landscape. Artists who come here to work tell others about that and soon everyone wants to come! Another benefit is the small but totally supportive arts community; the presence of the University of Lethbridge has played a large role in our success. SAAG has also been blessed with many committed board members who have a vision larger than location. Other than that; what can I say? We have a terrific airport that gets me out and gets me back. Where else in the world would they have your boarding pass ready before you’ve reached the check-in counter! Just one of the benefits of living in this great place. (Don’t tell anybody!) I can’t think of one single “least”.
www.saag.ca
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Art Gossip: When Getting the Scoop is Jumping the Gun
A recent post by Michelle over at the excellent Curating.info reminded me that I should get around to posting some of my thoughts about the mini-media-frenzy that erupted earlier this month over news that David Franklin, a curator at the National Gallery of Canada, had suddenly left his position. Once the story was broken by the Ottawa Citizen, summaries of same quickly appeared at CBC.ca, globeandmail.com, (most notably for all us shy Canucks) American blogger Lee Rosenbaum's CultureGrrl.
This whole episode left me—even though I am an arts freelancer myself—feeling a little puzzled about the parsing of story priorities in the newsroom.
Why? There simply didn't seem to be enough in the story to get excited about; it was unclear what made it newsworthy. Someone going on leave can come about due to family tragedy, personal illness, stress or related (and understandably confidential) factors. The Ottawa Citizen did an okay job of making it seem like a relevant event in relationship to the Gallery's past labour-management trials, but the recaps that followed left me with a question mark not just about Franklin, but about the editors who ran the story in the first place without having something juicier on hand than standard office workplace dissatisfaction.
It's not that I don't love gossip, 'cause goddammit, I do. (And I've got the dogeared Us Weeklies and massive Artforum Diary internet history cache to prove it.) I just wish this had felt more like, well, gossip, and less of a case of editors going "Damn, we missed the scoop on that one... Well, we'd better run something on it too to make it look like we're on top of the art world news."
On a related note about "being on top of the art world news," it occurred to me that it's always easier to report on comings and goings of this sort (provided, er, you can get someone to actually talk about it!) than it is to investigate the more nebulous tensions between fundraising, donations, staff, renovations and the like that affect how museums and galleries deliver (or not) on their missions to the public.
When I was at the Art Gallery of Ontario earlier this year to preview their new exhibition design, I was struck by a sticker on a staffer's swipe badge. It was a parody of "Art matters," the AGO's one-inch-pin-popularized slogan for expanding and renovating their space. The sticker said, in bright green sans serif, just like the original, "STAFF matters." Knowing that the gallery had laid off a number of security guards, ticket sellers and related workers for the duration of its renovation, it certainly made me think twice. I'm almost more interested in that than the David Franklin stuff.
And for one final thought, I guess part of the surprise for me was that I didn't think the national mainstream media cared all the much, period, about goings on like this in the art world. After all, there's been nary a peep in the national press about what are to my mind bigger do's—like Kitty Scott leaving the Serpentine for the Banff Centre after just a year on the much-vaunted job, all this happening shortly after a tense time for Scott at the National Gallery, or the Power Plant's longstanding staff retention problem at all levels of responsibility.
Where be all those much-needed dirt-shovellers on these kerfuffles?
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Reviews Roundup: Le Gallery, Prefix, TPW & more
- Jesse Harris's show at Le (featuring some works in the photo above) to July 27 impressed me with its punk-prank attitude and the show in back by recent OCAD grad Amanda Nedham ain't too shabby either.
- Andrew Wright's show at Prefix includes some work made with the military that lends some new gravitas to his longstanding toy rockets videos.
- Artcore's summer show is quite poorly installed but does offer a chance to see work from top international artists.
- Patrick DeCoste's work in Paul Petro Special Projects' recent Pride show was surprisingly good; his current solo show there is also worth a look, really luscious and weird.
- Kiki Athanassiadis and Jay Wilson are highlights at York MFA's summer show.
- Rosana Simonassi's installation at Gallery TPW is very simple yet effective; projections of the pampas delivered from slide projectors in a darkened gallery. You are always aware of yourself in the way of one image or another, casting a shadow and being part of the work.
- An Te Liu's show of photos of IKEA-castoff constructions at MKG127 isn't my cup of tea, but the guy is headed for the Venice Architecture Biennial so it's certainly worth a look.
- Stephen Waddell's photos of beachgoers and bathers at Monte Clark may fit his painterly style and all, but I just like how his pics evoke loneliness in the midst of a crowd.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Frenemies: Not just for The Hills anymore
Ah, passive-aggression. It's the preferred conflict style of many an introverted arty type, myself admittedly included.
Despite being a fan of the technique, I'm a little perturbed to see it exemplified to a T (to taxpayer and public spacer expense) in the Art Gallery of Ontario's latest outdoor signage.
If you look at the photo of that signage above, you'll see the end of their large-print "We've closed up shop... for now" slogan followed by an overthunk admonition: "But feel free to visit the competition our friends: Bata Shoe Museum, Canadian Opera Company, Casa Loma, CN Tower, Gardiner Museum, National Ballet of Canada, Ontario Place, Ontario Science Centre, Royal Ontario Museum, Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Toronto Zoo"
At first I actually thought that the strikethrough and "our friends" scrawl was a witty graffito on the part of a Sharpie-toting copy editor. But no, it's part of the original poster print. So apparently, this mixed message is what made it through the AGO's own bureaucratic review chain as the acceptable way to publicly express its relationship to other Toronto museums and cultural institutions.
The result is a mode of parlance that maddens in the same way as any snotty-ex email might.
First, there's the backhanded compliment. Is it a better thing to be off the list (and therefore off the AGO's frenemy roster) completely, or is exclusion from same a snub? Dunno, might want to ask the Power Plant or the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art or the Toronto Public Library or the University of Toronto or the Design Exchange next time you see them.
Second, there's the self-congratulatory wit. Ha, ha, ha, really darling, now really—are we or aren't we going to be civil when we bump into each other at Nuit Blanche or the Toronto International Art Fair this fall? Who knows, maybe I'll get a special preview and you won't, so it won't matter! Ah, I kill myself.
Third (and this, the least snotty-ex-like part, is really the most maddening) it's symbolic of how catty and uncooperative relationships can be between Toronto museums and institutions. I know I can well be accused of starry-eyed Montrealism from time to time, but here that town shows us up yet again. Why? Because despite whatever internal ill will surely exists on some level, they actually have a little something called the Board of Montreal Museum Directors, which unites institutions across the city in cross-promotional ventures like Montreal Museums Day. (FYI, Montreal Museums Day is an earth-shattering (by Toronto standards) event where all the museums in the city are free for one spring Sunday, with transit shuttle buses provided to ease travel.) Of late the BMMD has also launched a nifty all-museums pass that lets you visit 32 museums for 45 to 50 bucks.
I think this might be a good time to point out that while I've seen about a dozen "Visit the ROM" billboards in the past few days, I have yet, in 12 months of the Museums and Arts Pass program, to see a single billboard advertising that.
But... maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there really was a Sharpie-wielder somewhere out there who can prove my paranoia's unwarranted. But as far as I'm concerned for now, this "small" ad gaffe is symbolic of a larger set of TO probs. Here we have million-dollar institutions behaving with the demeanor of gossipy, text-messaging, Hills-watching high schoolers. Like OMG ppl, WTF?
Interview: Amanda Cachia on "Pandora's Box"
Call me old-school, but I marvel at the many young women I went to art school with who vehemently resisted identifying with the term "feminist". So I was intrigued by a small yet might show on right now in Regina that features work from some young feminist heavyweights that we don't often see in Canada--people like Chitra Ganesh (who made Dazzle, above) Laylah Ali, Wangechi Mutu, Kara Walker and the like. I spoke recently with Dunlop curator Amanda Cachia who managed to pull the whole thing off--despite resistance from some of the artists in the show both geographically and politically. Click here to read the condensed interview published in the National Post, or continue after the jump for the interview with some more images from the show.
The original outside-the-box thinker
Online Wednesday, July 09, 2008 In print Thursday, July 10, 2008
On Monday, the Church of England decided to break the "stained-glass ceiling" and allow women to become bishops. Resulting controversy lit up manses and message boards worldwide, highlighting persistent debates around women's rights. Pandora's Box, a Regina art exhibition, is now broaching similar issues in the art world. Here, curator Amanda Cachia tells Leah Sandals how the fairer sex grapples with unfair biases.
Q Why did you organize this show?
A When I was living in New York in 2006 there was lots of discussion about the dearth of feminist content in exhibitions. There was huge outcry from The New York Times and others about the lack of equal representation - even MoMA didn't have it. Based on that discussion, there started to be exhibitions on feminist art across the States. I moved to Saskatchewan in 2007 and saw there hadn't been a group show of feminist work for 15 years. So I thought this was something I needed to address.
Q Why focus on feminism, and not simply women? And why the title Pandora's Box?
A I feel strongly about feminism myself, but the younger artists in the show didn't necessarily identify themselves as feminist artists. So I was a bit ambivalent about tagging my show as a feminist one. But exhibition essayist Joan Borsa indicates that, in many ways, feminism has been demonized in a similar way to how Pandora was demonized. Also, Pandora is a myth and I wanted to use this broad framework. These artists are drawing on social myths, political myths, fairy tales - all similar types of things.
Q There are some famous international artists in this show, like Kara Walker, Laylah Ali and Wangechi Mutu. How did you get them?
A Well, I think previously living in New York really helped, because I knew of some of them and just made appointments with their dealers. Lots of them had never heard of Regina, and I definitely had a number of rejections along the way. I approached two or three museums about Ghada Amer and they said no. It was only after I met with Amer herself that things were set up.
Q What drew you to particular artists?
A I felt really empowered when I came across all these artists for the first time; their work just resonated in my mind forever. All are reclaiming avenues of our lives that have been put in a box. For example, Ghada Amer tries to say, I was brought up in a Muslim culture and I'm trying to lift the veil of the hijab.
Leesa Streifler puts text on photos of her younger self. The text talks about internal psychological angst, thoughts she had when she was feeling insecure about herself and her body image. Some might be things her parents and peers would say. Her 15-year-old picture has this tenseness about it; she admitted she never wanted to smile showing her teeth because she was so self-conscious.
Chitra Ganesh is influenced by Indian mythology and Bollywood's exaggerated relationship with falling in love. She's also referring to some elements of life that are a little taboo, like love triangles and nudity. In Dazzle, when I look at the naked woman diving down into the lotus, I think of Botticelli's Birth of Venus.
Q A man complained last month that the show is too explicit. What's your response?
A Well, I think that's valid; this is what art does, it provokes and stimulates people in all kinds of ways. So I respect any opinion that comes out of the work. Sometimes when you see nudity in an exhibition it can push buttons. I wanted to be responsible about it; we painted the public windows black and announce on the door that this show has adult content. That's a professional standard, so we're following that standard. It certainly didn't stop me from putting the work up; with any show you can anticipate many kinds of reactions.
Q Feminism crops up often in the news - from Hillary Clinton's run for the Democratic nomination to this week's Anglican Church announcement. How do these artworks relate?
A When I heard Clinton was running for election I was really excited; also, these artists can make the works they want to, and I'm excited about that too. Overall, it's a really exciting moment in history and I'm glad to be around for it. I think that maybe it's a sign of the times: that we are making progress, even though sometimes it can feel like we're not.
Pandora's Box continues to July 20 at Regina's Dunlop Art Gallery
