Jul. 01, 2009 - Issue #715: The Bestest of Edmonton 2009
Speeding Subject
Speeding motorcycle: Mary Joyce sketches landscapes from the back of a bike
That's right, while riding on the back of a motorcycle. Joyce takes art making to its most hardcore—ultimate en plein aire. While the rest of us might be hanging on for dear life, Joyce is freely sketching the scenes she passes by.
Joyce's source sketches are displayed in a case near the door of the exhibition. They have that spontaneous aesthetic this exhibition promises, however, when Joyce takes the sketches back to her studio, there seems to be difficulty keeping that energy up without making it feel too contrived. In "Shore Jumble Vancouver Harbour," she clearly details stairs and canoe, but leaves the rest of the landscape blurry. In other works, like "Approaching Jasper," a landscape that should be so familiar is unrecognizable. This could be read two ways: either the success of a Futurist approach, or the failure of an Impressionist one. I get that she's going fast— but if it weren't for the titles, I wouldn't have a clue what was going on.
What does come across is a growing appreciation for the earth, the land, as a body. "Voluptuous Peanut Embryo Forms with Spiral," painted in a rainbow of warm hues, is so abstracted you can't see the land, only vague shapes which might be construed as the land, or it could be the female form. The bodaciousness of her curves and the vague sexuality of her shapes hearken back to work of Georgia O'Keefe, whose flowers couldn't help but evoke the suggestion of the female anatomy. "Of the Body of the World" takes this idea further, articulating a very maternal relationship with the earth.
But Joyce's relationship to the motorcycle isn't present. The motorcycle holds a dear place in modern culture, from Marlon Brando in The Wild One to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to Easy Rider. The motorcycle stands in as one of the great American symbols of rebelliousness and a free spirit. It is the place of introspective thought, of the road well travelled while having stone chips shot into your face. Of having one more barrier between you and the world removed.
This doesn't come across so clearly. It's fine that Joyce doesn't engage in that rhetoric (it is a chauvinist one), but then, the novelty of the motorcycle doesn't come across as brilliantly as it could. What's the difference between Joyce sitting on the back of a motorcycle or sitting in the passenger seat of a car? V
Until Sun, Aug 23
Speeding Subject
Works by Mary Joyce
AGA (10230 Jasper Ave)
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