Allyson Mitchell
dal 3/4/2009 al 9/5/2009
Segnalato da
3/4/2009
Allyson Mitchell
Cambridge Galleries Queen's Square, Cambridge
Mitchell is a maximalist artist working in sculpture, performance, installation and film. Brain Child' installation features a collection of more than 100 bonnet-clad ceramic figures placed in formation as an uncanny army converging on a giant brain constructed out of wicker, afghan throws and macrame'.
Brain Child is a secret society of femme savants whose brains are so big
they have to wear special hats for protection- think Holly Hobby meets
Mensa. The installation features a collection of more than 100
bonnet-clad ceramic figures placed in formation as an uncanny army
converging on a giant brain constructed out of wicker, afghan throws and
macramé. In this unexpected configuration these once innocent kitsch
figures assume a foreboding aura and their large heads suggest expanded
cranial capacity and telepathy. As in previous bodies of work such as
the over-the-top Ladies Sasquatch (2005-2009), Mitchell mines popular
crafts and twists them inside out to challenge socially prescribed
expectations of femininity and sexuality.
This is the first Ontario showing of this new body of work, which was
recently exhibited at La Centrale in Montréal and will travel to AKA
Gallery in Saskatoon. The Cambridge Galleries exhibition will be
accompanied by a poster featuring an essay by Lorna Mills and Sally McKay.
Allyson Mitchell is a maximalist artist working in sculpture,
performance, installation and film. Her works have been exhibited in
galleries and festivals across Canada, the US, Europe and East Asia.
Mitchell also works collaboratively with fellow filmmaker Christina
Zeidler as 'Freeshow Seymour', and was a co-founder of fat performance
troupe 'Pretty Porky and Pissed Off'. Her writing has appeared in
publications such as Studio Magazine, Fuse Magazine, Fat: The
Anthropology of an Obsession (Penguin, 2004) and Turbo Chicks: Talking
Young Feminisms (Sumach Press, 2001). Mitchell lives in Toronto, where
she is Assistant Professor in the School of Women's Studies at York
University.
Media Contact:
K. Jennifer Bedford: jbedford@cambridgegalleries.ca
Cambridge Galleries are supported by the membership, the City of
Cambridge, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Image: Allyson Mitchell, Brain Child, 2008. Image courtesy of the Artist. Photo: Cat O'Neil
Cambridge Galleries Queen's Square
1 North Square - Cambridge
Gallery Hours: Monday to Thursday 9:30 am - 8:30 pm, Friday & Saturday 9:30 am - 5:30 pm, Sunday 1 - 5 pm