Ron Terada

The Art Gallery of Windsor will be showing examples from three distinct bodies of Terada’s work. In the vitrine – located at the southwest corner of the building and viewed from the exterior – there are three large, backlit works that have texts borrowed from the ‘messages’ section of newspaper classified ads. There are also photographs of signs, shown at the Catriona Jeffries Gallery in Toronto, that are placed throughout the Gallery. The street signs captured in Terada’s images are weird, cryptic, and more often than not come across as visual gags, rather than the useful providers of direction or information. The signs, many of which are handmade, feature text that is frequently underlined as well as multiple explanation points, all in clear attempts to attract attention. The effect, however, is just the opposite: the signs are undermined by their own hacked presentation and often look more pathetic than enthusiastic. The third work is placed on Windsor’s riverfront. It proclaims, in French and English, to people walking along the path and to people looking across the river from Detroit: “You have left the American sector.”