fetish

Montreal curator, Renee Baert, has responded to the Gallery’s location in a shopping mall with an innovative exhibition designed specially for this consumer environment. Placed near the entrance to the gallery for the next year will be a custom-deisgned display case showing artworks that will be changed about once a month.

Displayed as precious objects in a mass market setting, these artworks take on new meanings. The curator has selected a group of Canadian, British and American artists whose sculptures and installations often transform everyday things and consumer good into compelling, mysterious objects. Their artworks allude to the complex meaning of fetish – a talisman, as object of desire, as an alluring possession.

Unlike many exhibitions that play upon generic “public” spaces, fetish focuses on the allure and entrapments of compelling objects. The objects displayed as “precious” complicate the processes of visual consumption in various ways. Baert concentrates on foregrounding works that utilize alluring and recognizable everyday objects with a relationship to commodity. In the space of the Devonshire Mall these works develop new potential for provocation, cultural play and critique.

Participating Artists:

Kim Adams
Kati Campbell
Aganetha Dyck
Carrie Mae Weems
Permindar Kaur
David Grenier
Joy Gregory
Gisele Amantea
Stephen Schofield
Mina Totino
Portia Munson
Nina Saunders