Barroco Nova: Wrestling with Change
Joanna Braund
Much anticipation and excitement surrounded the recent opening of Barroco Nova: Neo-Baroque Moves in Contemporary Art. Curated by Susan Edelstein and Patrick Mahon, the exhibition inhabits three of London’s galleries: Artlab Gallery, McIntosh Gallery, and Museum London. Featuring striking works across a variety of mediums, eighteen Canadian contemporary artists engage with ideas of identity, culture, urban space, entertainment, and the body. The work reflects the Baroque by acting as a response to moments of change, while providing an emotional sensory experience through powerful and exaggerated imagery. As stated by Mahon, the exhibition features “art that is trying to wrestle with change”. Though the curators have made ties between this historical movement and the artworks, the exhibition remains relatable and reflects the contemporary experience. The works are KENT MONKMAN, THÉÂTRE DE CRISTAL, 2007, INSTALLATION VIEW AT MCINTOSH GALLERY, PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTIST powerful and confronting, but not grotesque. Consideration to detail and how the individual works relate to the space of the gallery allows the audience to take in the beauty of the work. Kent Monkman’s Théâtre de Cristal fills one room in McIntosh Gallery with an exquisite beaded teepee chandelier. The video projected from the chandelier onto the floor invites you to be part of the intimate space of this intricate work. Meanwhile, at Museum London, the array of textures and mediums draws attention to the detail of the works as well as their movement in the space. Rhoda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky, who recently gave an insightful lecture at Western, are showing work in the Artlab and Museum London in which they cast objects in aluminum foil to explore how to push materials to limits where they must fail. Trevor explained that when you encounter the foil objects there is a “hypersensitivity to the self as you walk around them” because the fragility gives you some power over the objects. My initial encounter with Barroco Nova illuminated the power of the images, the detail involved and the space they occupy. Fortunately, there is opportunity for everyone to encounter and reencounter these works, as the exhibition will continue until the end of the semester.
issue no.1 / november
2011
7