Patrick Beaulieu

Révélations 8

2009

Canadians have a funny kind of national identity, meaning specifically we do not really have one. To say that there is a national identity is to enter into a discussion without end -because there are just too many different kinds of people in Canada- it would be impossible to pin identity to anything, let alone a top-down Multicultural Act, or a Group of Seven. Strangely though, in art, that is exactly where Canadian begins, with a Group of Seven. In Diana Thorneycroft’s new series Group of Seven Awkward Moments, the momentous humor Canada is famous for is contrasted with the nation’s dirty little secret: that it is not funny at all, and in fact, much too serious, bordering on menacing. The new series of works falls into a line of art objects created by Canadian artists within the last few years that utilize parody and play to explode the hallowed imagery of nationalized corporatism. In the case of Thorneycroft, the use of backdrops that are reproduced works of the Group of Seven and Tom Thompson...

Canadians have a funny kind of national identity, meaning specifically we do not really have one. To say that there is a national identity is to enter into a discussion without end -because there are just too many different kinds of people in Canada- it would be impossible to pin identity to anything, let alone a top-down Multicultural Act, or a Group of Seven. Strangely though, in art, that is exactly where Canadian begins, with a Group of Seven. In Diana Thorneycroft’s new series Group of Seven Awkward Moments, the momentous humor Canada is famous for is contrasted with the nation’s dirty little secret: that it is not funny at all, and in fact, much too serious, bordering on menacing. The new series of works falls into a line of art objects created by Canadian artists within the last few years that utilize parody and play to explode the hallowed imagery of nationalized corporatism. In the case of Thorneycroft, the use of backdrops that are reproduced works of the Group of Seven and Tom Thompson...

Post-colonialism has taught us that history is multifaceted, and can never be a straightforward narrative from a single point-of-view. When considering stories of the past, we collectively need to ask: Whose history is being remembered; whose recollections are recorded and on what terms? Who will talk about what the disenfranchised will have to endure if they are voiceless? Thorneycroft voices the stories of the marginalized in her series A People’s History, a group of images that clearly evolved from her works Group of Seven Awkward Moments and the Canadiana Martyrdom Series, with their kitschy Canadian icons and archetypical wooded landscapes as backgrounds. She crafts and captures events in Canadian history that people are disinclined to claim as their own. These scenes are enacted using tinker toys, which come across as both didactic tools and horrifying misappropriations. Thorneycroft points out that these images all involve the disadvantaged, the uneducated and the young – populations that are frequently overlooked and whose grievances go unheard. One particularly striking and complex photograph is Quintland, a depiction of the lives of the Dionne quintuplets...

Canadians have a funny kind of national identity, meaning specifically we do not really have one. To say that there is a national identity is to enter into a discussion without end -because there are just too many different kinds of people in Canada- it would be impossible to pin identity to anything, let alone a top-down Multicultural Act, or a Group of Seven. Strangely though, in art, that is exactly where Canadian begins, with a Group of Seven. In Diana Thorneycroft’s new series Group of Seven Awkward Moments, the momentous humor Canada is famous for is contrasted with the nation’s dirty little secret: that it is not funny at all, and in fact, much too serious, bordering on menacing. The new series of works falls into a line of art objects created by Canadian artists within the last few years that utilize parody and play to explode the hallowed imagery of nationalized corporatism. In the case of Thorneycroft, the use of backdrops that are reproduced works of the Group of Seven and Tom Thompson...

Canadians have a funny kind of national identity, meaning specifically we do not really have one. To say that there is a national identity is to enter into a discussion without end -because there are just too many different kinds of people in Canada- it would be impossible to pin identity to anything, let alone a top-down Multicultural Act, or a Group of Seven. Strangely though, in art, that is exactly where Canadian begins, with a Group of Seven. In Diana Thorneycroft’s new series Group of Seven Awkward Moments, the momentous humor Canada is famous for is contrasted with the nation’s dirty little secret: that it is not funny at all, and in fact, much too serious, bordering on menacing. The new series of works falls into a line of art objects created by Canadian artists within the last few years that utilize parody and play to explode the hallowed imagery of nationalized corporatism. In the case of Thorneycroft, the use of backdrops that are reproduced works of the Group of Seven and Tom Thompson, combined with stereotypical iconic representations, produce strange entanglements of visual narratives that are at once laughable, and in the same engage preconceptions regarding what it is that defines a nation. The idealization of an empty and prosperous landscape, claimed authentically Canadian while in the same owing much to Scandinavian landscape painters, is rendered as a manufactured fabrication. The series is littered with black humor, addressing issues of colonization, sexual identity, corporatism, environmental destruction and celebrity. The image of Bobby Orr...

Canadians have a funny kind of national identity, meaning specifically we do not really have one. To say that there is a national identity is to enter into a discussion without end -because there are just too many different kinds of people in Canada- it would be impossible to pin identity to anything, let alone a top-down Multicultural Act, or a Group of Seven...

'Tulip, Awakening' 60 x 40" edition Limited edition archival photograph, hand signed and numbered. Unframed _________________ Gauzy afternoon light, the tulips are stretching softly,...

OMAR TORRES (Mexico City, 1977)
Lives and works in Mexico City The artist produces sets for each piece, which he then photographs. This is what makes Omar Torres’s works spectacula...

"Drift 32" Photography 20" x 30" Edition of 10 by Rowan Daly Digital print on Ultra Smooth Fine Art Paper Unframed - ships rolled in a tube DRIFT Behind the scenes of the natio...

"Drift 29" Photography 30" x 20" Edition of 10 by Rowan Daly Digital print on Ultra Smooth Fine Art Paper Unframed - ships rolled in a tube DRIFT Behind the scenes of the natio...

"Drift 22" Photography 20" x 30" Edition of 10 by Rowan Daly Digital print on Ultra Smooth Fine Art Paper Unframed - ships rolled in a tube DRIFT Behi...

Archival ink jet print on aluminum