Andrew kidder at Mind Control (42 Gladstone), to April 15. 416-537-1161. Rating: NNNN
Rating: NNNN
for years i thought i was the only one who played Ms. Pacman to the point of severe thumb and forefinger blistering. But today I stumbled across Andrew Kidder’s Arcade show in Mind Control’s window gallery.All the pieces are living retro videogame resurrections via graffiti. Imagine my joy upon seeing, resting peacefully below one of the installation’s canvases, the very machine that sucked hours from my childhood and drove my parents that much closer to therapy with its incessant pyoor-pyoor-merrrwwwwhhhhh-ing: the arcade mini-Pacman game! Aaaaaa (angels, trumpets, sunbeams and whatnot), His Majesty Kidder has recreated our imaginary binary friends of yester-fascination through his beautifully and brightly coloured paintings.
Anyone who fancies the arcane world of arcades — the sour smell of pubescent boy body odour, the Vegas-in-a-can lighting and the carnie-esque quarter control man — will delight in checking out this if-only-it-were-bigger show.
However, I do suggest you bring a friend so you can walk away talking about “‘Member when they came out with Pacman featuring Ms. Pacman and you could both play at the same time?”
“Do I? Dude, that’s how I lost my virginity.”
