Images from Perched at Artspeak, Vancouver, 2003-04
The exhibition Perched was presented at Gallery 44 in Toronto from May 1-31, 2003, and at Artspeak in Vancouver from December 6, 2003 – January 24, 2004
Perched includes three pieces: Pool Noodle: Honing Survival Skills, Artist Survival Gear, and Robin Red Breast. The exhibition aligns animal and human behavior – animal instincts are interpreted as artist survival skills, and mating rituals become metaphors for human socialization and art world posturing. This work investigates Latour’s experiences as an artist through her relationships with animals. “In fables, animals speak and act like humans and this device allows the author to speak more candidly about human society than realism would allow. In her art world fables, Toni Latour looks with a similar candour at the pecking order in her field of operations. From medieval Bestiaries to Disneyworld, animals are invested with human foibles, vices, virtues and motivations and used to stand in for the most idealized and debased human characteristics. Latour reflects this cultural history back upon itself by imitating animal behavior as an allegory of that curious human habit of art-making” (Lorna Brown, Introduction, Birds: A City, Some Rain, 2004).
The first piece, Pool Noodle: Honing Survival Skills is comprised of two elements: a light box containing an image of the artist balanced on a pool noodle outside of an aquatic centre, and an audio track set upon sounds of the ocean. When the viewer picks up headphones, they hear a story of a bird that needs to make a migration across an ocean, but is too small and weak to fly the entire distance at once. As a result, the bird carries a twig in its mouth so that it may drop it in the ocean and rest upon it. In this piece, Latour learns valuable lessons about intuition, goal setting and planning ahead – all crucial survival skills for the artist.
The second piece, Artist Survival Gear is a sculptural piece made up of a body form dressed in rubber boots, a mesh-back hat with “Toni” embroidered on the front, camouflage bikini bottoms, a hunting- orange shirt with “Artist Survival Gear” embroidered on it, and a down-filled vest with a yellow pool noodle attached to the back. The costume was originally used in a performance of Pool Noodle: Honing Survival Skills at SAW Gallery in Ottawa in 2003.
The final piece, Robin Red Breast, is a video played on a monitor suspended from the ceiling. While imitating the bird, Latour offers a satirical look at boastful inclinations and a desire to be seen. “The preening and posturing makes transparent the inherent exhibitionism and attention-seeking rituals of the act of performance” (Brown).
