Appropos: Creativity and Copyright
Dan Kennedy Tinsel & Tinder 2006
“Appropos” is a new group exhibition at Edward Day Gallery illuminating concerns over Bill C-61; if the controversial copyright bill passes, part of art’s power could be outlawed. That message is curator Kelly McCray’s footnote to the show, which features 11 artists whose work entails cultural critique or reinterpretation through popular media and icons. Big, vivid paintings and small, graphic prints riff on Disney, tabloid photos and everything in between.
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Diana Thorneycroft Failed Relationships (Mickey and the Pooh) 2006 |
In Diana Thorneycroft’s Desperate Housewives series of drawings, Wilma slices up Fred and Betty gets even with Barney. Needless to say, leave the kids at home. Childhood imagery continues in Dan Kennedy’s paintings of melting cartoons, such as a psychedelic Pinocchio collage called Tinsel & Tinder. Then Dawolu Jabari Anderson explores the power of posters with his spoofs on old film and comic book heroes, focusing on themes and assumptions about black history. In one subway-size painting, MAM-E goes head to head with a fearsome Aunt Jemima.
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Dawolu Jabari Anderson MAM-E vs. Aunt Jemima 2008 |
Politically topical but visually rich, “Appropos” is sure to make a poignant case for artful appropriation. (200-952 Queen St W, Toronto ON)
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