30 - Wednesday, February 19, 1992 — vy Shore News

wscxme NOY Words and things

‘Objects of a different kind of labor’

STANDARD STOPPAGES at Cathedral Place, 925 W.Georgia, 12th Floor.

Feb 1-22. Tues-Sat: 1-5,

here are probably dozens of large, empty rooms, va- cant floors, and unused buildings across the city.

It takes only a little inge- nuity, a lot of industry, and a touch of the salesman to put these spaces to good use. Artist Randall Anderson seems to possess these characteristics because he has eminently engineered the neces- sary goodwill and sponsorship of Vancouver businesses to mount an unusual art show on the unfinish- ed 12th floor of a downtown office tower.

Though the title of the show, Standard Stoppages, suggests a work-shutdown, the intention here is to establish the integrity of ar-

Mh The exhibit concerns the ambiguous

descriptive power

and extraordinary political significance of ordinary language. 99

tistic production.

Anderson sets what he calls “objects of a different kind of labor” in a context where they can elicit recognition from people who know what labor is, because they are engaged in the day- to-day grind in their offices.

a 7

Choose your tirst pair at the regular p

Archie Graham SPOTLIGHT FEATURE

Art, in other words, is presented here, not as the outcome of a pro- cess alien to, or separated from, other forms of human work, but as a product that evolves from the same productive energy.

While some of the pieces in this show follow the production man- date, none is compromised by the corporate sponsorship. In fact, Greg Snider is one of several artists who appear to bite the hand that feeds them.

His Bijoux is a vigorous parody of surplus value.

Installed in a makeshift corner wall, and framed in marble, this work looks for all the world like an elite jeweller’s showcase, com- plete with designer gold watches, a brass candlestick, a decorative shell mounted on a gold stand, and a miniature violin.

The principal difference be- tween Snider’s showcase and the real thing is the apparently solid gold skull that serves as the delightfully ironic centrepiece that transforms the familiar object into a mock-celebration of gushing ex- cess.

Generally speaking, however,

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options,

this exhibition is less concerned with production and surplus value than it is with another burning issue in the contemporary art world: the ambiguous descriptive power and extraordinary political significance of ordinary language.

Works by Todd Davis, julie Dushcenes, Mark Grady, Sandra Semchuk, Sharyn Yuen, and Ran- dall Anderson (who is both a con- tributor and a curator here) fall in- to this category.

All are strong pieces engaged in dramatizing the remarkable status of words in our super-literate society, and/or the radical discon-

, tinuity between things and the

words most often used to describe them.

One item by Daniel Laskarin il- lustrates the risks involved in this difficult enterprise.

A Hopeless Attempt to Know An

See First-rate page 31

NEWS photo Neil Lucente

MARK GRADY’S What tho’on namely fare we dine is among the werk included in the Standard Stoppages exhibit. :

“Enjoy our Soup- of-the- Day

with your chéice. of |

Freshly Baked Mini Loaf or Cheese. Biscuit,

“Selected Dessert and your choice :

‘of: Coffee, Tea or small Soft Drink.

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