Sexpo '97: The Last Bang
as it appeared in The Ottawa Xpress, August 14th, 1997
article written by Donna Lee Wawzonek
Please see the easy to read text version below.
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press clipping for Sexpo '97: The Last Bang as it appeared in The Ottawa Xpress, August 14th, 1997 article written by Donna Lee Wawzonek Please see the easy to read text version below. |
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| Sexpo 97: The
Last Bang The closing show at Creative Outlet returns to a theme they have consistently explored in their fourteen month history: sex. Co-owners Laura Margita and Darcy Schmidt first worked together two years ago on the "Sex Show" at the Kinga Gallery, and from that initial encounter emerged Creative Outlet. The second show at this space was "Sexhibition," last year, and now they return to this theme to close the gallery. Darcy regrets the finacial failure of the gallery, but states that in every other aspect it was a tremendous success. With the strong support of the art community, the gallery was a popular and a much needed venue, but sales were not substantial enough to keep the gallery afloat. The gallery was both an exhibition space for temporary shows and a store which enabled emerging artists to have their work on permanent display and available for sale. Darcy and Laura, artists themselves, look forward to organzing temporary thematic exhibitions, thus freeing them from the financial obligation of the permanent site and opening up the opportunity to become involved in the exhibition process. "There will still be the energy that we had here but it will be a lot more focused. You can put in a lot more of yourself if you are only doing it a few times a year," says Schmidt, whose comments are perhaps relevant to the artists contributing to these exhibitions as well. Ottawa's art community is a concentrated one, and Creative Outlet was consistently calling on the same group of artists to produce work for their shows. Many of these familiar names are at the current show, but with this specific theme, there is an opportunity for artists to explore areas they would not normally deal with in their work. With "The Last Bang" being both a farewell and a celebration of Creative Outlet, most of the work in the show is fun and celebratory as well. Toys, books and underwear are prevalent at this show, with favourites including Andrina Cox's Mmm Balls - leather clad versions of those vibrating balls which have oddly been marketed as children's toys - and Tik Tok Tom's He's Right Handed, the masturbating robot. Erin Robertson's Orgy Deluxe is a mobile of spinning and twisting nude figures, which never quite make contact and Christopher Assié's A Mating Game for Fragile Egos is a board game of breasts and penises where the winner takes all. Several artists, including Gayle Kells and Patti Normand, create underwear objects that are not exactly inviting, and Chastity L'Amour's Soft Porn is an underwear set that offers both sexes an opportunity for hermaphodite status. Books and photo albums by Hazel Meyer, Val Van Hauk, Alyosha Derry and Sandra Abi-Aad draw on genres such as sex manuals and Victorian narratives to produce intriguing little objects. This format allows artists to explore the genre of pornography, while maintaining many of its intrinsic qualities. The celebratory nature of this show is evident in most of the works, from Kathy Gillis' Inspired by Pre-History; 1-4 which mimic ancient fertility objects, to Adrian Göllner and Mark Marsters' The Dirty Dozen - a grid of donuts that play on issues of desire, and is reminiscent of that old Tom Waits line "all the donuts sound like prostitutes," with names like Honey Cruller and Cherry Stick. Where most of the works are playful in nature, there is a range of approaches to the subject matter which reflects varying tastes and attitudes: a smorgasbord of delights that offers something for almost everyone. All the works at this show are for sale, and what a great way to help the Creative Outlet's last bang than to bring a little sex art home. |
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