Two exhibitions
dal 11/7/2012 al 17/8/2012
Segnalato da
11/7/2012
Two exhibitions
Diaz Contemporary, Toronto
Quebec trio BGL works with steel barriers. In their hands, these instruments of control and restriction become "a playground". Robert Arndt works with photography and film to engage questions of subjectivity, and interpretation, often subverting expectations.
BGL
Better Mistakes
Quebec trio BGL is known for sculpture, installation, photography and video that
pushes the objects of contemporary culture beyond their normal function, and creates
fantastic scenarios in which things don't quite behave as they should. Taking a
special interest in the tension between nature and culture, between consumerism and
freedom, and between high culture and low, these three engage in a relentless
investigation of social norms and cultural patterns, always with a keen sense of
humour and irony.
Lately, the group has taken to working with steel barriers. In their hands, these
instruments of control and restriction become a playground, an invention, or an
adventure. The other works shown here similarly embody BGL's characteristic
experimental spirit. They employ various materials and techniques, and also work
with the environment of the gallery itself, to subvert the viewer's expectations,
addressing the ambiguity in art making between “right” and “wrong”.
BGL’s recent solo exhibitions include Spectacles + Problèmes at the Mac-Val in
Paris (part of Nuit Blanche 2011), Cultiver son jardin at the Centre de design à
l’UQAM, Montreal and Marshmallow + Cauldron + Fire =, at the Contemporary Art
Gallery, Vancouver. Recent group shows include Dorm at The Model, Sligo, Ireland,
Manoeuvers at Galerie Toni Tàpies in Barcelona and Caught in the Act: Viewer as
Performer, at the National Gallery of Canada. They are also included in the
exhibition Oh, Canada at Mass MoCA, and they recently completed the Louis Odette
Sculptor-in-Residence program at York University in Toronto.
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Robert Arndt
The Long Take
The long take is sometimes referred to in film theory as the ultimate representation
of subjectivity. As opposed to a montage, it necessarily represents a single,
embodied, point of view, therefore leaving out all others. The long take could be
said to reproduce a very realistic, while at the same time cinematic, kind of
consumption of the world around us.
Robert Arndt works with photography and film to engage questions of structure,
subjectivity, and interpretation, often subverting expectations by using familiar
cinematic devices in unfamiliar ways. His pieces cause us to pay attention to the
ways in which the objects and images we consume come to perform the roles we ask of
them, and are confronted with the tension of the present moment balanced against
describable realities. Arndt’s works often seem to hint that they are part of a
larger dialogue or process, and that both the beginning and the end of what is
presented is intentionally left open.
Since graduating from Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, Arndt has exhibited and
screened his work in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the U.S., and abroad,
including the Vancouver Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), and
Artists Space (New York). He lives and works in Vancouver.
Image: BGL, Promener Son Chien (To Walk the Dog), 2005. Mixed media, dimensions variable
Opening Thursday 12 July from 6 to 8
Diaz Contemporary
100 Niagara Street (at Tecumseth) - Toronto, ON M5V 1C5
Summer Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 11-6 / Friday and Saturday, 11-5