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Jan.2, 2005 - Jan.9, 2005 |
A reflection in praise of the human body
Italian-Canadian artists join forces in the Go Figure exhibition at the Columbus Centre's Joseph D. Carrier Gallery
By Jennifer Febbraro
Originally Published: 2003-09-21
The centuries-long obsession with the human figure speaks more to our species' narcissistic tendencies than it does to the object of our affection. Norman Brown explained this obsession, writing that "the human body is not a thing or substance, given, but a continuous creation. The human body is an energy system which is never a complete structure; never static; is in perpetual inner self-construction and self-destruction; we destroy in order to make it new." This tearing down and rebuilding of the human figure, while gazing over the murky pools into our own self-reflection, is happening right now at the Joseph D. Carrier Gallery in a show aptly called Go Figure.
Ross Bonfanti, Laurie De Camillis, Julie Campagna, Paula Ferracuti, Domenic Martino, Tony Martino, Frances Patella, Frank Perna, Sandra Tarantino, Anita Giancola are all local Toronto artists working in different media to portray the body as it works, plays, and generally exaggerates itself into pleasurable and painful states. The theme of the figure and its link to personal identity, archetype, symbolism and metaphor is torqued and compressed by various hands and speaks to the diversity of questions each artist is asking of the human condition.
Julie Campagna, the only sculptor in the show, explains that her work is autobiographical, "in each piece, I look to identify what vs. who. My sculptures are about scenes of circumstance and consequence". In viewing Campagna's bronze sculptures, the figures metamorphosis from fish into woman or from human into tree deletes the face and focuses instead on the body. "Every portrait is a self-portrait", she notes. "I start by writing down an event that has affected me in some way, and then I move to sketch and expand on that, then I go to my table to work, and from that point, so much can change." For Campagna, the inspiration begins in the word and then moves outwards into a kind of choreographed and multi-stepped process, from carving to mould-making, which can take up to six weeks to complete.
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