The third Monday in January is popularly known as Blue Monday, the worst (most "depressing") day of the year. This morning a psychiatrist on the CBC's Early Edition mentioned seasonal affective disorder and how light boxes are used to treat it.
The artist Jeff Wall has used light boxes to make his pictures, but he hasn't used them for a while now. Dana Claxton started using light boxes around the time Wall stopped. She calls them fire boxes. Stan Douglas has never used light boxes to show his gallery pictures. When asked why, he said, "It's screaming."
Here is a recent feature on Wall, in advance of his current exhibition at Vancouver's Canton-Sardine. Seasoned Wall watchers will note the absence of the Prado story in the artist's discussion on light boxes: how he was inspired by the illuminated bus stop ads he saw on his daily commute to the Madrid museum in 1977. Another thing we don't hear is how Vancouver's N.E. Thing Company used light boxes (albeit on a smaller scale) in the 1960s.
Something else Wall says: when the reporter asks why he is showing at a tiny Vancouver gallery, the artist replies, "Probably because they asked me." What we don't hear is the question, Why have you said no to certain other Vancouver galleries who have asked if they can show your work? Sometimes more than once.
No comments:
Post a Comment