Snowflake
dal 6/7/2002 al 7/7/2002
Segnalato da
6/7/2002
Snowflake
Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario
A performance by Valerie Lamontagne. Lamontagne will present a performance entitled Snow Flake Queen. The Snow Flake Queen is based on an amalgamation of contemporary and childhood cliches. She is inspired by various aesthetics including those of the drag queen, fairy tales, consumerism and new age "flaky" culture, as well as display cultures such as parades, carnivals, and theme parks.
On July 7th, Lamontagne will present a performance
entitled Snow Flake Queen. The Snow Flake Queen is
based on an amalgamation of contemporary and childhood
clichés. She is inspired by various aesthetics including
those of the drag queen, fairy tales, consumerism and new
age "flaky" culture, as well as display cultures such as
parades, carnivals, and theme parks. During the
performance, dressed in a costume fit for a "queen",
Lamontagne will offer to make snowflakes out of whatever
paper material the public brings (within possible limits). She
will also have on hand a selection of various wrapping
papers and classic fairy tale book illustrations for those
unprepared visitors. The snowflakes will then be offered to
the viewers as a souvenir of their "joyful" visit.
Valérie Lamontagne is a Montréal artist, freelance art
critic and curator. Her work and performances have been
presented across Canada, the United States and Europe.
She regularly writes about - as well as curates exhibitions
focused on - new media and performance art. She is a
co-founder of MobileGaze.com a net art site featuring art
and interviews with digital media producers.
__________
The installation SnowFlake is comprised of a collection of
several thousand hand-cut paper snowflakes made from a
variety of colourful commercial wrapping and origami
papers. These "one-of-a-kind" snowflakes are pinned to
the wall, filling the space and converging to spell out the
word "eternity" on one wall. This work is based on Hans
Christian Andersen's tale, "The Snow Queen," and
highlights our society's unhealthy obsession with finding
happiness and the darkness that lurks behind every fairy
tale.
"My work is often "pretty" and highlights all of the hidden
nuances of the world of pleasure, decoration, the frivolous
and stereotyped feminine icons such as queens, mermaids,
nurses and lovable furry animals."
The installation SnowFlake is comprised of a collection of
several thousand hand-cut paper snowflakes. The
snowflakes have been made from a variety of colourful
commercial wrapping papers as well as origami papers.
These thousands one-of-a-kind snowflakes are pinned to
the wall, filling the entire gallery space and converging to
spell out the word "eternity" on one wall. This work is
based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale, "The Snow
Queen," wherein an evil Queen casts a spell on a young
boy and keeps him captive in her ice castle until he is
released by his sweetheart through the power of a magical
word. SnowFlake highlights our society's unhealthy
obsession with finding happiness and the darkness that
lurks behind every fairy tale.
The Forest City Gallery
795 Dundas Street
London, Ontario N5W 2Z6
519-434-5875