Tales Untold

×

Expand

Rebecca Chaperon, Snake Lake, 2017

acrylic on canvas, 72” x 54” (courtesy of the artist)

The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, near Greater Vancouver, punches above its weight as it brings together three artists and four writers – all women – for Tales Untold, an exhibition of surreal feminist art. With pieces by Chris Reid, of Brandon, Man., along with Davida Kidd and Rebecca Chaperon, both from British Columbia's Lower Mainland, the show is interesting.

But it grew into a more ambitious project when the gallery invited four British Columbia writers – Susan Musgrave, Zsuzsi Gartner, Erika Thorkelson and Chelsea Rooney – to contribute interpretive texts.

Planning got underway before curator Adrienne Fast was hired earlier this year. “It became a collaborative process,” says the gallery’s director, Laura Schneider, noting that the writers broaden the artists’ narrative strategies. Their texts, whether prose or poetry, are displayed next to the works in question.

One surprise for Fast was how differently two writers responded to the same work. Less remarkable was how often issues related to sexual violence surfaced given the current preoccupation with #MeToo and #TimesUp. Various questions arose: Who gets to speak? Who is believed and who is not believed? What is real and what is a dream? What’s true and what’s not true?

The three artists explore painting, printmaking, photography and sculpture. While their styles vary, they share some aesthetic strategies, such as combining 3-D and 2-D elements. Chaperon’s sculpture of a wavy rainbow, a stand-alone piece, is replicated in several of her paintings.

×

Expand

Davida Kidd, "Picture for Boys," 2016

inkjet on paper, 28" x 34" (courtesy of the artist)

Kidd, meanwhile, creates a variety of props for her studio photographs. She also adds found images with Photoshop to create more drama. The characters in her images look so lifelike it’s easy to believe they are real. For example, the main character in Picture for Boys has such a mesmerizing stare you can be excused for overlooking the lobster claw replacing his right hand, never mind the Humpty Dumpty figure floating over his left shoulder.

×

Expand

Chris Reid, "Bats and Bones," 2015

acrylic on Stonehenge paper, 30.5” x 50" (courtesy of the artist)

Reid uses creatures from Slavic mythology, folk tales and pop culture as protagonists in both her 2-D and 3-D work. One example of a crossover: Sock Creatures. It's composed of more than 20 suspended sock dolls that give alternative form to characters in Reid’s pastel drawings.

All these intricate works, so evocative of fairy tales and other childhood stories, are engagingly set against lush pink, green and blue walls. It’s a far cry from the pristine white cube of most galleries. The colourful space, says Fast, helps create an “immersive experience for entering into the imaginations of the artists.” ■

Tales Untold runs from May 24 to Sept. 2, 2018 at The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, B.C.