NICK AND SHEILA PYE at Birch Libralato (129 Tecumseth), to October 15. 416 365-3003. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Nick and Sheila Pye are internationally renowned for their cinematically rich and viscerally existential explorations of relationship dynamics. Viewers can follow their journey into tangled togetherness through elaborate sets, symbolism and staged actions.
Now divorced, they continue their artistic relationship in a new triptych of videos entitled Stiff As A Board, Light As A Feather. Though they insist their separation in no way affects their artistic output, you can’t help but feel a distinct chill in their current show.
In the central piece, The Flower Eaters, Nick pulls rose petals from his mouth and magically reattaches them to a barren stem, while Sheila, opposite him, pulls petals from a rose and places them in her mouth. Then the process reverses: Nick eats his just completed rose and Sheila restores hers. It’s the result of two separate films that have been digitally attached, allowing one to run in reverse on half the screen while the other runs forward, creating a perpetual Möbius strip of hunger, desire and remorse. Yet the use of separate screens makes it subtly clear that, though they’re facing each other, the two figures are not communicating.
This disconnect continues in The Dreamer, in which Sheila lies suspended over a bed that is slowly being stripped of its sheet by a fan. The drama lies in the invisible barrier between her impassive body and the restless bed sheet.
In Bird Watcher, Nick sits before a table while a tiny bird tethered to a rock on the tabletop by a piece of rope struggles vainly to fly away. The Bride is easily the eeriest piece: Sheila in a wedding gown floats ghostlike and spinning in mid-air, her face concealed by her tangled hair.
Their intention is to use visual trickery to evoke the early magic of silent film and the relationship of photography to the cinematic image. This they accomplish beautifully, but it’s hard to ignore the rupture haunting every image.
art@nowtoronto.com
