With Fronds Like These, Who Needs Anemones? | Stephanie Jonsson's vaugely genital-shaped sculptures are the most scandalous art we could find at The Works.
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“Art Can Be Scandalous!” screams the headline on the front page of the official program for The Works, Edmonton’s annual downtown festival of visual art. And who would disagree? From Gustave Courbet’s “Origin of the World” to to Marcel Duchamp’s urinal-in-a-gallery and Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” to Chris Ofili’s dung-stained portrait of the Virgin Mary, there is a proud tradition of visual artists using confrontational imagery to shock the complacent eye into a new way of seeing the world—and in some cases, a whole new way of thinking.
But how well does The Works live up to its scandalous billing? SEE thumbed through the program—laid out to look like a supermarket tabloid—and found genuinely scandalous shows in disappointingly short supply.
Here’s a sampling of the exhibitions at The Works 2008, and their ranking on the SEE Scandal Index™. (For the record, a show with an SSI of 10 would be roughly equivalent to a Robert Mapplethorpe photo of a guy with a bullwhip up his ass, while a show with an SSI of 1 would be about as shocking as an Anne Geddes photo of a baby dressed up in a bunny suit.)
SHOW: The Rescue
ARTIST: Keith Walker
LOCATION: Rigoletto’s Café (#102, 10305-100 Ave)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: “An installation of sculptural glass umbrellas create [sic] a childlike sense of adventure and fantasy. Forms the artist once thought impossible to achieve in glass play across the room.”
Glass umbrellas? Not scandalous at all, unless the corners are extremely pointy and they’re all hanging at eye level.
SSI: 2
SHOW: Les Graff
ARTIST: Les Graff
LOCATION: Scotia Place (10060 Jasper Ave)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: “Recent studio work from one of Alberta’s most important senior artists. The paintings explore the northside hills of the Battle River. Graff tracks the changes in the hills with the constant movement of light through days and seasons.”
Now, we’ve got nothing against the talented Mr. Graff, but if paintings depicting a hill bathed in various amounts of sunshine qualify as scandalous, then you’d better hold onto your hat, because we’ve got some oils showing fruit on a table that are going to blow your freaking mind.
SSI: 1
SHOW: Art Nude: 16th Annual Naked Exhibition and Sale
ARTISTS: Various
LOCATION: Harcourt House (3rd Floor, 10215-112 St)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: “A selection of figure-based drawings, paintings and sculptures created by participants in the 2007/08 non-instructional, peer-based drop-in sessions.”
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere! Naked people—and since they were created during drop-in sessions at Harcourt House, there’s an outside chance that one of the models might be somebody you know!
SSI: 7
SHOW: Some Skulls and Robot
ARTISTS: Psychotic Robot Collective & Amelia Aspen
LOCATION: The ARTery (9535 Jasper Ave)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: “Kib and Christopher present a haunting collection of robot paintings personifying screaming in space. Amelia Aspen shows precise and precious depictions of distasteful feelings.”
This one could go either way. “Distasteful feelings” sure sound like they have the potential for scandal, although that potential may be dimmed by Aspen’s “precious” execution. And while screaming is an extreme expression of physical discomfort, everyone knows that in space no one can hear you scream. So really, how bad could it be?
SSI: 6
SHOW: Hers
ARTISTS: Izabella Orzelski-Konikowski & Bogdan Konikowski
LOCATION: Enterprise Square, Extension Centre Gallery (10230 Jasper Ave)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: “A series of large-scale portraits of innovative, famous, contemporary Canadian women in the arts. Each artist is depicted expressing their passion for their respective artforms.”
Not a high probability of scandalous imagery here—except in the unlikely event that one of those Canadian women in the arts turns out to be an exotic dancer.
SSI: 3
SHOW: Balance
ARTISTS: Craig Talbot & Chrissy Cheung
LOCATION: ArtsHab (10217-106 St)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: “Two different approaches to the themes of ‘balance,’ ‘tightrope,’ ‘deuce,’ and ‘played out.’ Features abstract ink compositions, text, drawing, and graffiti.”
Talbot and Cheung’s work isn’t scandalous at all, but ArtsHab is holding a live concert/dance on June 30 called “The Sweaty Ball,” and that name is amusingly tasteless.
SSI: 4
SHOW: Malleable Revelations
ARTIST: Stephanie Jonsson
LOCATION: Hotel Macdonald (Lobby, 10065-100 St)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: “Ceramic and fabric combine in abstract forms that allude to underwater sea creatures, plant life, and sexual anatomy.”
The highest potential for scandal at The Works seems to exist with this exhibit—largely because of its choice of location. The image of the Hotel Macdonald’s well-heeled guests having to walk past a bunch of penis-shaped sea cucumbers, anus-like starfish, and jellyfish with vulvas in them every morning on their way to the breakfast buffet puts a definite twinkle in our eye. Well played, Stephanie Jonsson! Well played!
SSI: 8
