Apr. 15, 2009 - Issue #704: Mutek

Jesus, is it okay if I have a girlfriend?

Jesus saves: Nina Haggerty show on love is one of the best of the year

Jesus, is it Okay if I Have a Girlfriend? is undoubtedly one of the best shows the ARTery has hosted in its one-and-a-half years of existence. Although, like many other local shows, it contains its share of undifferentiated work, especially in the large north room, the core of the collection is a number of very sharp pieces by Mark Traficiante, Kyle Kowosan and Cassandra Tobin, with solid supporting material from the other artists. Since the ARTery is apparently going to be open Saturdays for lunch, eliminating the unpredictable hours which made seeing some exhibits there difficult, there is essentially no reason why you should not go to see this show.

I am sure that my reading of the work is in some way affected by knowledge of its provenance as the creation of developmentally disabled artists working at the Nina Haggerty Centre. But despite some clear similarities to our expectations of outsider art and of course the curatorial/promotional direction which seeks to emphasize the nature of the artists and their sexual subject matter, I don't find myself drawn to related lines of analysis. To put it simply, I think that it's largely unimportant to most of the pieces, because the work itself doesn't need the structure.

As easy as it is to call the curatorial strategy here blunt, given the title of the show and its implications, I think that some real care has been put into this collection. This should be a lesson to others trying to put on group shows in the ARTery and other, even more DIY spaces in the city, because despite the to-the-point theme and the subtext of the show's presentation, the artworks have enough space to come alive, and for the works to build relationships between themselves. Although the work is not all of the same standard, and much of it is certainly less polished than what we've seen at some other shows, Jesus, is it Okay if I Have a Girlfriend? is much more than the ironic title.

My main reservation with this show is that some of the work in the north room seems repetitive, especially after coming through the smaller south room on the way in. Many of the artists use the same kinds of colour in drawn and painted pieces and similar rough drawing techniques, without always breathing life into them. Sometimes the work rises above this and we see the impulse behind it despite the flaws, as in Leona Clawson's animals, and sometimes when one piece is separated from the group it can stand up on its own, as in the fine wedding painting near the washrooms.

The main part of the south room, however, is something else. Mark Traficiante, as well as giving us the show's title, has produced a remarkable collection of paintings. His witty collections of figures drawn simply and roughly with sometimes funny stories explaining their activities, including Avril Lavigne, are the heart of the show, and although he works in the same kind of bright, rough technique as many of the other artists whose work I find uninspiring, he attacks his images with enough excitement for the rest of them to share. He starts writing and changes his mind, but in his apparent rush to make more of these fantastic paintings he has no time to clean things up and leaves traces of his work, crossed-out words and half-formed sentences to be continued elsewhere. Despite the colour continuity with the north room, Traficiante's work really has the most in common with Tobin's little diagram about sex and all kinds of related business just around the corner, which is at least as funny and revealing as "Jesus, is it Okay if I Have a Girlfriend?". Between these are two very simple drawings by Kyle Kowosan which are like nothing else on display and left me wishing there were more. V 

Until Sat, Apr 18
Jesus, is it okay if I have a girlfriend?
Works by artists from
The Nina Haggerty Centre
The ARTery (9535 Jasper Ave)

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