Artitudes

Curatorial Statement

What’s your ARTITUDE towards ART? What’s your ARTITUDE towards DISABILITY? Did Van Gogh really cut off his ear? Was it because he was nuts, or was it lead poisoning, absinth, bipolar disorder, none of the above? Or are artists just like that, a little off kilter, unbalances, out of line, off the wall, a few bricks short a load? Then there’s Toulouse Lautrec, Frida Kahlo- misfit artists with tragic, broken bodies. And let’s not forget Henri Matisse, broken with arthritis strapping brushes to his wrists… but it’s hard to call him tragic, he was kind of relentlessly…

N.O.R.M.A.L?
What is your ARTITUDE towards NORMALITY? Are you normal? What does it take to be normal in Vancouver today? Gotta speak fluent English, of course, and be middle class, adult, white, able bodied, heterosexual, Christian, employed, no criminal or psychiatric record, addicted only to the right drugs, literate for sure, college helps. Ad nauseum and stir. Seems like normal isn’t that widespread, kind of lie an exclusive club in fact, members only. How can the majority be abnormal? Maybe we should all be on Oprah.

What ARTITUDES do you approach this show with? Interest? Admiration? Discomfort? Curiousity? Do you see yourself reflected? What ARTITUDES do the artists bring? Angry, serene, playful, sarcastic, formal- oh dear, no Unified Voice of the Disabled anywhere.

Yet something joins this disjointed voices. Working in oil paint, plexiglas, fabric, corsets, forks, watercolours, the artists in the show jostle and contradict each other in one moment, weave harmonies in the next. They open worlds. We see shadow words that refuse our readings. The lock on her mouth speaks. Contested symbols wish us luck. He counts down in his restless sleep. The sky opens and pain stops for a moment. He saves up summer in sketchbooks. She invites us to sit in her chair.
Welcome.

Elizabeth Shefrin, Persimmon Blackbridge, Curators

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