Rewind: David Acheson
At MEG Gallery in Toronto, David Acheson's exhibition "w": the curvature of a dance, the doubling of Woman, the cleavage of two breasts or the crack of an ass. We see polarities in Big Angels, dualities in Double D Winter 99 and twinning in wwomen. Themes of birth and death, nature and technology, male and female present themselves. Clear and simple, with funky, accessible imagery, the work is compelling. Then its conceptual details grow; its clean lines take on endless possibilities.
Wonder Woman: wwomen (1999)complete with lasso, magic bracelet and beltseven feet high, her body a cross between bodybuilder and bombshell. She exudes wild savagery and power, caught in a moment of violent battle. Child of the Amazons, she is a force to be reckoned with, her femininity (long hair, voluptuous breasts) plays out against her brutality and muscularity.
The figure is the female equivalent of the Superman in Flowers for a Future Past (1998), exhibited a year ago. In both pieces, Acheson simultaneously over-heroizes, yet undermines the mythology of his subjects. Superman derived his power from science and the voice of the father guided him. Wonder Woman had no father; her powers came from magic. Acheson portrayed Superman on his back, holding a bouquet of white chrysanthemums. He now shows Wonder Womans dark side: natural forces whose inexplicability men fear and women are taught to suppress.
The piece looms larger than life, exemplifying Achesons conceptual take as well as the care of execution in his work. This clean presentation gives all the works a singularity and clarity. On a visual level, an older work, Big Angels (1993), is abstract and aesthetic, like tracings or sketches on the wall. We see black and white transparencies, framed in shaped light boxes, assembled to create three dancing figures. Acheson uses images of thistles, leaves, bricks and steel and establishes a delicate balance between hard and soft, interior and exterior, left and right. This balance is furthered in the configuration, which is both lyrical and grotesque. Is the fragmented body dancing or writhing?
In Double D Winter 99 (1999), a colour photograph behind Plexiglas completes the cycle of "w." The Plexiglas outlines a wobbly, headless figure. The photographic image, representing the inner organs, shows composted garbage: broccoli, orange peels, greens and fungus. Double D: death and decay? dance and disease? The work complements the other pieces, mirroring the fermenting vegetation in Angels, emphasizing the dichotomies of wwomen. Its strong material presence as an object contrasts with the figures image, which appears boneless and deteriorating.
Like his figures, Acheson dances a zigzag. Pleasing and playful on the one hand, his forceful works question stereotypes and closed narratives. Their sense of humour and bold aesthetic balance darker concepts of violence and decay.
Fall 1999
Subscribe to Canadian Art today and save 30% off the newstand price.
