"Winnipeg Now" Winnipeg Art Gallery Sept. 29 to Dec. 30, 2012

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Nuit Blanche visitors look at Sarah Anne Johnson’s Untitled (Schooner and Fireworks)

Nuit Blanche visitors look at Sarah Anne Johnson’s Untitled (Schooner and Fireworks)

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Courtesy Jessica Bradley Art and Projects.

Paul Butler, "get a dog"

Paul Butler, "get a dog", archival pigment print

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Collection of the artist.

KC Adams, "Birch Bark Ltd.", 2012

KC Adams, "Birch Bark Ltd.", 2012, porcelain, lights.

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Collection of the artist.

KC Adams, "Birch Bark Ltd"., 2012 (detail 1)

KC Adams, "Birch Bark Ltd"., 2012, (detail 1) porcelain, lights.

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Collection of the artist.

KC Adams, "Birch Bark Ltd"., 2012, (detail 2)

KC Adams, "Birch Bark Ltd"., 2012, (detail 2) porcelain, lights

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Collection of the artist

KC Adams, "Birch Bark Ltd"., 2012, (detail 3)

KC Adams, "Birch Bark Ltd"., 2012, (detail 3) porcelain, lights

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Nuit Blanche visitors look at Sarah Anne Johnson’s Untitled (Schooner and Fireworks)

Nuit Blanche visitors look at Sarah Anne Johnson’s Untitled (Schooner and Fireworks)

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Winnipeg Now

Winnipeg Art Gallery

Sept. 29 to Dec. 30, 2012

By Richard White

You celebrate your 100^th anniversary only once, so the Winnipeg Art Gallery capitalized on the opportunity with an edgy must-see exhibition – Winnipeg Now.  Winnipeg-based art critics Robert Enright and Meeka Walsh took a non-traditional curatorial approach by inviting 13 artists (all with some connection to Winnipeg, but not necessarily based in the city) to produce new works for what they call a state-of-the-art exhibition. Only one piece had been exhibited before, so curators had less-than-usual control over the exhibition and how it might hang together. It also was daunting for the artists, as they had to produce something they knew would be judged nationally and even internationally. 

The highlight of the exhibition was Johnson’s installation, Untitled (Schooner and Fireworks), an ambitious piece for this photographer turned sculptor.  She spoke passionately at the exhibition’s opening panel discussion about her struggles to make the work and how she wanted to abandon it, as well as the different demands of photography and sculpture.  She even admitted she wasn’t sure she liked her piece when it was first installed – although she was warming up to it.

This eye-catching work is dominated by a huge and menacing funnel cloud that sits over an unsuspecting red schooner (the artist says she considered a reference to Noah’s ark, but it seemed too obvious).  The cloud is an intriguing combination of burned and melted plastic detritus with bright-coloured flashing lights that coalesce to create a surrealistic storm complete with lightning.  In the background, on the wall, is one of Johnson’s signature photographs of a majestic Arctic fiord, its foreground water subtly tainted with finger-like paint smudges.  The installation was inspired by the artist’s participation in a northern residency program where she experienced unspoiled nature but felt guilty for enjoying it when people are destroying so much of the environment. The work succeeds in being visual, as well as intellectual, with its reflection on good versus evil and man versus nature.

Paul Butler’s Guidelines also has religious references. The 10 image / text pieces read like biblical commandments and are placed like Stations of the Cross around a dim church-like gallery. Each text is a short statement about how to improve your life. Some are serious (volunteer in your community) while others are humourous (get a dog). Furthering the religious metaphor is a single spotlight on a huge Bible-like book on an altar in the middle of the gallery. Upon closer examination, the book is actually a printout of Butler’s to-do lists amassed over the years. The work successfully pokes fun at today’s fervour for self-improvement.  

Other exhibition highlights include KC Adams' field of porcelain birch stumps, each with a hidden corporate logo, continuing the critique of human impacts on nature, and Daniel Barrow's enormous wall painting, which uses overhead projectors to create an ever-changing collage of colourful Matisse-like images. Also worthy of note are Michael Dudeck's mythical figures with links to surrealism and early Inuit art.

At the other end of the spectrum, Jennifer Stillwell’s baked abstract paintings, complete with sprinkles, were the least successful offering. While lyrical, the work was simply too decorative and too small in scale compared to other hard-hitting and riskier pieces.

If you’re in Winnipeg before year’s end, check out Winnipeg Now. And if you’re wondering which major Western Canadian public gallery will celebrate its 100^th anniversary next, mark your calendar for Edmonton in 2024.