The opening of the Os Gêmeos mural, sponsored by the Vancouver Biennale, at the Ocean Cement Plan on Granville Island this last weekend:
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I’m struck by the comparison of “Giants” to “A-maze-ing Laughter” – a Biennale legacy at English Bay.
- Both are fun, graphic and representational
- Both are distinctly non-Anglo, created by artists who have done works that look like the people from their places
- Both engage people through the act of photography
All right, everything engages people through photography, now that everyone has a camera in their hands at all times. But so many who viewed “Giants” took a selfie with their friends and family or of themselves that it seemed almost compulsory, as though the art demanded it.
Indeed, can we even engage with art unless we take a picture of it? Is this just a lazy way of visual consumption, as though, once photographed, the art is then ‘seen’? And is the art the ancillary image, secondary to the photographic selfie?
The difference between the two works, though, is that people will not be able to get close to the silos when the cement plant is in operation. And it’s just not the same from the other side.
My private index of the success of a piece of public art is the number of people taking pix on, around, on to of and beside it.
Superficial, but probably not far from the truth these days. My personal biennale preference was A Device for Driving Out Evil, magnificently located at the terminus of Thurlow Street, backdropped by Burrard Inlet and the North Shore Mountains. Alas, it now resides in Calgary. Our loss, their gain.
If the one I am thinking of is the upside down church, that was one of my favourites. Had a good location, too.
Jeff – that’s the one.
I find it amazing that the Amaze-ing sculpture is such a hit — there’s a cruel, mocking quality to the faces, at least in my opinion, as in “the joke’s on you, mate.” But the Granville Island piece is very droll — much more painterly and illusionistic than I thought it would be when it began. And it repurposes the silo shapes — very clever. I agree with the comment that many people don’t feel they’ve seen a piece of artwork until they’ve photographed it, preferably as a background in a selfie. It’s made visits to some of the big European museums even more of a strain than it was when they were just crowded.
Michael – I totally agree with you. As I understand it, in China (origin of the sculptor?) an uncovered mouth laughing like this would be considered quite derisive and rude, which is the way I interpret it as well.