Semiotics of Leisure: Shinobu Akimoto, Terri Fidelak, Simon Fuh, Gerald Jessop

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Gerald Jessop, “Giant Unicorn,” 2023

acrylic on canvas, 22 x 28" (courtesy of the Artist)

Artists Shinobu Akimoto (Japan), Terri Fidelak (SK), Simon Fuh (SK/ON) and Gerald Jessop (SK) question whether art making is work or leisure by taking activities that signify "free time" or "non-work" as their subjects. The exhibition Semiotics of Leisure at the Art Gallery of Regina responds to a surprising well-spring of artists concerned with activities that signify "free time" or "non-work."

Leisure is essentially anticapitalistic. It is anti-work; it does not create value. While often dismissed in the larger society as a mere pleasurable diversion, art institutions often put art to work, its job being to educate about societal ills. Semiotics of Leisure promotes the subversive qualities of pleasure for artists and viewers.

Terri Fidelek's minimalist cube sculpture constructed of layer upon layer of completed picture puzzles is encoded with endless hours of time-filling putting together banal images.

Aimless directions to an after-hours club unfold in Simon Fuh's dimly lit room, quaking with muffled dance beats.

While clubbing represents one type of aspirational non-work, both the dedicated act of painting that comprises Gerald Jessop's studio practice and his favoured subject - beach frolickers and their recreational accoutrements - represent avenues of escape from the predictable rhythms of Capitalism.

Since 2013, Shinobu Akimoto has been engaged in critiques of the "work" portion of "artwork," co-directing Residency for Artists On Hiatus, which values downtime as an essential aspect of making. Akimoto's limited edition multiple of handmade marmalade, Meaning of Making Series: Natsu-mikan (summer orange) Marmalade 2019, combines the trendy, twee nostalgia for preserving food with mourning the loss of a parent, a long familial connection to a fruit tree and the artist's ongoing project to create a satisfying lifestyle through the means of art-making.