Over the Thanksgiving break, I visited an art gallery with a rather unassuming exterior. That was with the exception of a huge red flag hanging on the outside of it. It was very much a beacon for me because I would have ignored the gallery otherwise. The gallery is the Moryork Gallery on 4959 York Blvd. Before I talk about the exhibition that was on display at this time, I would like to take a little time to discuss the gallery itself. I had been there before about four years ago when there was an exhibit for an artist who worked with different depictions of grasshoppers at different sizes. I supposed I didn’t pay attention to the rest of the gallery when I visited because it is a work of art unto itself. On one side of the gallery, one is able to see a lounge chair made out of soda cans next to Buddhist statues.
Example of the Interior
When one looks across from this sight, one sees bones of various animals next to a statue of some important traditional Japanese figure. I should also mention the abundance of baby dolls littering the space. They are not always whole and not always found in unexpected places (the bathroom had a shrine to them). The experience of being in the gallery is surreal and added a welcome dimension while viewing the works of the artist on display, Jack Chipman.
An excerpt from the artist’s statement is an appropriate way to summarize my experience with the exhibition:
My mixed media collage and assemblage pieces are an attempt to transform an eclectic collection of found objects and ephemera into thought-provoking and/or humourous statements. It all began after a prolonged hiatus from my central painting pursuit.
This exhibition was definitely an experiment in post-modernism.
The Mask of Red Death
For example, The Mask of Red Death was a good example of the mixed media approach used to convey a perhaps paradoxical mood to the audience. One the one hand, the mask has a rather solemn look to it because of the rather minimal definition of shapes in the mask. However, then one considers that, in combination with the tail, the ears seem to signal that this is supposed to be a cat. When one goes further with his analysis, the mask becomes very comical because once can image the tail swinging with the eyes moving left to right as the seconds pass by on a clock. In addition, Chipman plays with the use of language in an interesting way. In the middle of the work is a strip from a Korean comic. The language proves to be but a minor barrier in understanding the work because of the over the top style of the drawing.
Kiss of Death
Another work that was very thought provoking was Kiss of Death. The composition seemed to be a postmodern commentary about the sanctity, or lack thereof, of the canvas. There seems to be a cork background with paint, paper cut-outs and stamps but it still remains decidedly two-dimensional. Chipman’s comment about moving away from painting towards a mixed media approach is exemplified in this work. He almost seems to be acknowledging the inability of painting to make a comment on its own. However, if most interest to me is the imagery that he chose. There is the kiss from the title but also the symbol of Mickey Mouse with the U.S. flag in the form of stamps on the top left. There is also a white shape, which could be just about anything. However, the message I got from this work is that spread—represented by the stamp and its associations with the sending of something—of American consumer culture—in the form of the ever recognizable Mickey Mouse logo of Disney—is something that means the death of something. Of what? Perhaps the kind of individuality that is expressed in Kiss of Death is what is dying.
