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8/7/2010

Tales to Astonish

Cambridge Galleries Queen's Square, Cambridge

Ivan Jurakic, Guest Curator

Tales to Astonish borrows freely from pulps, comics and science-fiction movies. Brandon Vickerd presents four life-size figurative sculptures heavily influenced by sci-fi iconography from the 1960s. Kevin Yates and Donovan Barrow debut a series of dioramas that take their cue from the 1980 film Flash Gordon, a heavily stylized remake of the once popular 1936 serial.

Tales to Astonish is an affectionate pastiche of the space age, juxtaposing our once optimistic perceptions of space exploration with the underlying tensions of the Cold War era. The artists in the exhibition; Brandon Vickerd, Kevin Yates and Donovan Barrow, take their cues from mass-market comics, paperbacks and B-grade movies, cheaply produced entertainment primarily aimed at children and teenagers. Their works reference a wide range of appropriated cultural artifacts that dredge up the unfulfilled promise of the Future.

Besides providing a vicarious thrill for fanboys, the artists doggedly dig through the teeming l and fill of the last century like pop culture archaeologists. They rescue and preserve unlikely icons from obscurity and the impositions of good taste. They mine disposable artifacts as a form of collective memory. From Flash Gordon to Iron Man, the artists blur the indefinite line between fact and fantasy, appropriation and entertainment, to comment on the very strange and often frightening World of Tomorrow that we find ourselves living in today.

BIOGRAPHIES:

BRANDON VICKERD is a Toronto based sculptor and professor of visual arts at York University. He received his BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (1999) and his MFA from the University of Victoria (2001) and he has taught and lectured in schools across Canada. His current research deals with Canadian culture’s mediate experience of nature through creating kinetic sculpture that simulates organic movements and forms.

KEVIN YATES graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design (1995) and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1999, and completed a MFA at University of Victoria (2001). Solo exhibitions of his work have been exhibited across Canada and the US. His art has been featured in prominent group exhibitions at the National Gallery of Canada, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Art Gallery of Ontario, among others. Yates is represented by the Susan Hobbs Gallery in Toronto. Currently Yates is living in the Toronto area, where he also works as an assistant professor of Visual Arts at York University.

DONOVAN BARROW graduated with a BFA from the University of Victoria (2001) and a MFA from Hunter College in NY (2005). Exhibitions of his work include Rare Gallery, NY, Luhring Augustine Gallery, NY, Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris, and the Susan Hobbs Gallery in Toronto. Donovan is represented by Rare Gallery, NY.

ARTIST’S WEBSITES:
Brandon Vickerd: http://www.brandonvickerd.com
Kevin Yates: http://www.susanhobbs.com/yates.html
Donovan Barrow: http://www.donovanbarrow.com

Media contact:
Katrina Jennifer Bedford 519.621.0460 ext. 119 jbedford@cambridgegalleries.ca

Image: Brandon Vickerd, Dead Astronaut (detail), 2008. Machined and hand carved poplar, 229 x 74 x 92 cm. Image courtesy of the artist

Opening Reception: Friday, July 9, 7 pm
The artists and curator will be present at the public reception.
A poster publication also accompanies the exhibition.

Cambridge Galleries Queen's Square
1 North Square Cambridge, Ontario - N1S 2K6
Gallery Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 9:30 am - 8:30 pm
Friday & Saturday: 9:30 am - 5:30 pm

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