AS A BODY at Cooper Cole (1161 Dundas West), to September 6. 647-347-3316. Rating: NNNN
Cooper Cole’s Kari Cwynar-curated themed show addressing the body features works by contemporary women artists, all of them internationally recognized but many showing in Canada for the first time.
The front window is occupied by Lauren Luloff’s batik-inspired male nude. Painting with bleach on a bed sheet, she gives the male figure a casual exoticism reminiscent of Matisse’s odalisques. Seeing the male figure treated this way makes you wonder why it doesn’t happen more often.
Columbia graduate Mira Dancy, whose loose, expressionism-inflected figures paradoxically emerge with an effortlessness that comes from obsessive practice, is fascinated by contemporary folk magic. Her large-scale triangular cloth piece is based on a hoodoo wrist charm, infusing women’s long history of soothsaying and charm-making with a bold, painterly sensibility.
A triptych of portraits on leather hides by Allison Katz catches subjects in moments of sad contemplation. Ghosts of past illustrative traditions – fashion illustration and sign painting most consistently – haunt her work, making the emotional depth in her figures all the more arresting.
Staring through the batik nude in the window, you can see to Jody Rogac’s semi-nude photo of a young woman on the back wall. Naked from the waist down, feet planted firmly, the woman’s expression remains guarded and unreadable.
Holding the show together are Jenine Marsh’s glistening ceramic tongues, playfully scattered throughout the space. Given that the human tongue covers such a broad range of activity, they are fitting mascots for the show.
art@nowtoronto.com
