Art that weeps, sings and bleeds: If you're interested in the extremes of the psyche, this is the art show for you. Just don't bring the children, Sarah Milroy writes
The Globe and Mail, June 11, 2007
Sarah Milroy provides a thorough overview on the extremes of self-portraiture and emotion in the show, Auto Emotion. Grappling with loss due to heartbreak or war of with the usage of video and photographic media, Sophie Calle's Exquisite Pain (Countdown), Marina Abramovic's The Onion and Adrian Paci's The Mourner are salient videos that exploit the video medium to explicitly convey internal psychological states. Other works also deal with altered state of consciousness, mental pathology and self-healing. However, Milroy comments that the Power Plant Gallery flawed in showing previously exhibited work by Andrea Fraser--despite its impressiveness---and its inclusion of one thematically irrelevant work (Wohnseifer's painting and video).
ITEM 2007.136 – available for viewing in the Research Centre
Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited
The Onion – Marina Abramovic
Exquisite Pain (Countdown) – Sophie Calle
The Mourner – Adrian Paci
Live to Tell – Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay
Halcion Sleep – Rodney Graham
The Present – Eijia-Liisa Ahtila
Ground Control – Eijia-Liisa Ahtila
Lyric – Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay
32 Days to Unhappiness – Sophie Calle
Lips of Thomas – Maria Abromovic