Light Boxes
In 1981, Philip Monk curated a series of solo exhibitions at A Space, which had just moved into the Ryerson Building on Queen St. West. Those exhibitions series made up the larger exhibition titled, Language and Representation.
Philip invited me on the basis on the anonymous posters I had been making. But here, anonymity was impossible. And in the context of a gallery, the idea of making posters felt like a pretense. After discussions with Philip, I decided to make light boxes instead. In the form of advertisements, they had begun to appear in stores and bus shelters. All the light boxes were manufactured at a commercial outlet in Pickering.
In each of the light boxes, the texts came from the altered comics I had been making. (I showed them at The Funnel in 1980 in what was my first solo exhibition, Whoever was here, now wasn't. They also appeared in A Space’s A Book, Working, as The Real Glasses I Wear.)
We Think As Bait, 1981
24’ x 24’, colour transparency, rear illuminated by fluorescent bulbs, housed in commercial light box. in commercial light box.
The phrase, “we think as bait,” was spoken by Superman in one of my altered comics. Here it appears above an image of a strange moody painting by Albert Pinkham Ryder, who lived from 1847 to 1917. I liked the text for its oddness: it seemed to say that our own thought was the lure that led us astray.
(The text, transmuted, appears in my 2012 painting, Lotus Sutra, as “even the lotus is a kind of bait.” How strange that it made its way from an altered comic to a light box to a text painting.)
One of you will serve as two, 1981
30’ x 24’, colour transparency, rear illuminated by fluorescent bulbs, housed in commercial light box.
The text here also came from an altered Superman comic, though it was spoken by one of the evil super criminals that are always threatening Metropolis. I found that utterance hilarious and baffling. Here it appears on an image of Manet’s 1868 painting, Portrait of Émile Zola. I had bought an inexpensive book on Manet because it contained an image of the painting of Zola, printed in such a way that the image was misregistered. Everything appeared doubled.
Only one way to keep being trapped, 1981
24” x 36”
colour transparency, rear illuminated by fluorescent bulbs, housed in commercial light box.
Collection of the Canada Council Art Bank
Janice found the double exposed photograph in a box of keepsakes she inherited when her grandmother died. Her grandmother must have taken the photograph on a trip to visit England. It fascinated me, and led to my discovering the misprinted Zola painting.
The full text reads, “Only one way to keep being trapped/on a world where strength won’t serve.” This text too was spoken by Superman, in a moment of insight after some titanic struggle against Evil.
You are strong, 1981
48” x 36”, colour transparency, rear illuminated by fluorescent bulbs, housed in commercial light box. (Destroyed)
This image is the only one of the light boxes that was not found and appropriated. I wanted one image that could almost function as an advertisement for the good life. I hired a photographer, Robert Baillargeon, to take the photograph. We posed a book (on Le Corbusier), a cool drink (of lemonade), a tennis racket with two yellow tennis balls, and a cut glass ash tray on a wired glass table.
The complete text reads, “You are strong/stronger even than the poor/ but you cannot stop.” This text was spoken as a warning to Superman.