The works of these four regional
f o u n d o b j e c t s, f e t i s h - l i k e e l e -
a r t i s t s a re s c u l p t u ra l a s s e m -
m e n t s, o p u l e n t
blages;
neglected
materials
and The Burlington Art Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial support of
they
a re
constructed
q u i r k y,
These artists obsessively assemble, compulsively construct, lovingly craft their own unique visions of our most familiar objects and cultural icons. Their particular treatments of these forms and their unique choices of materials allow the works to take on a certain ambiguity that
c o n j u re d
i n t o fa n t a s y wo rk s
u s i n g c o m p u l s i ve l y collected,
c a s t - o f f s,
The objects that these artists make are on the verge… they begin at functional and wander into a place of maybe or not quite, just about or very close to…
challenges us to look closer at what we
our Membership, Corporate Members and Sponsors; the BAC Foundation; Arts Burlington Council; the Volunteer Council; the City of Burlington; the Ontario Arts Council; the Provincial Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation; The Canada Council of the Arts; and the Federal Department of Canadian Heritage.
of Cornellian ilk.
t s o m l A FUNCTIONAL
COVER PHOTOS (left to right): Michael Allgoewer • Detail of ‘Desire Develops an Edge’, 1999 Brian Davis • Detail of ‘Corrugated Chippendale’, 1998 dialogue in a centre such as the
Christianne L’Esperance • Detail of ‘Altar’, 1999
Burlington Art Centre, which houses
Vesna Trkulja • Detail of ‘destroy, degrade, demolish, devastate, disrupt, displace, dispossess, dismantle, diminish’, 1999
MICHAEL ALLGOEWER
such a diverse range of artistic activity within its guilds and studios, where artists are constantly creating objects
BRIAN DAVIS
both functional and non-functional in an attempt to tell their own personal stories. This historic counterpoint, the
generally take for granted in the objects of our everyday existence.
notion of craft versus fine art, function versus non-function, is a
The use of materials laden with meaning and metaphor is a device
lively issue here. Is there truly a division between the two, as has
used to explore and explain the layers of idea and memory
been traditionally proclaimed? If so where is the divide? The work
attached to complex feelings and emotions. The artists’ explo-
of the artists in this exhibition suggests a false separation of the
rations and juxtapositions of materials and ideas expand our
two, the blurring of boundaries, the insignificance of the question,
awareness of the importance of the everyday, of the dialogue
the problems of a too dogmatic approach. The issue for them
between the function or non-function of an object, what is useful
is the telling of the story, and the materials arrive as they will to
and what is not useful in our culture. This is a particularly relevant
perform the important function of communication.
CHRISTIANNE L’ESPERANCE 1333 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington Ontario L7S 1A9 Telephone: (905) 632-7796 • Fax: (905) 632-0278 Email: Info@burlingtonar tcentre.on.ca • Website: www.burlingtonartcentre.on.ca This publication, ‘Almost Functional’, accompanied the exhibition ‘Almost Functional: Michael Allgoewer, Brian Davis, Christianne L’Esperance, Vesna Trkulja’ at the Burlington Art Centre, Burlington, Ontario June 25 to September 19, 1999 Curator: Dawn White Beatty Essay and Poems: Dawn White Beatty Publication Design: Wordsmith Design & Advertising, Hamilton
CURATOR: DAWN WHITE BEATTY ISBN#0-919752-62-4
VESNA TRKULJA
BURLINGTON
ART
CENTRE
J U N E 2 5 T O S E P T E M B E R 19 , 19 9 9
The works of these four regional
f o u n d o b j e c t s, f e t i s h - l i k e e l e -
a r t i s t s a re s c u l p t u ra l a s s e m -
m e n t s, o p u l e n t
blages;
neglected
materials
and The Burlington Art Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial support of
they
a re
constructed
q u i r k y,
These artists obsessively assemble, compulsively construct, lovingly craft their own unique visions of our most familiar objects and cultural icons. Their particular treatments of these forms and their unique choices of materials allow the works to take on a certain ambiguity that
c o n j u re d
i n t o fa n t a s y wo rk s
u s i n g c o m p u l s i ve l y collected,
c a s t - o f f s,
The objects that these artists make are on the verge… they begin at functional and wander into a place of maybe or not quite, just about or very close to…
challenges us to look closer at what we
our Membership, Corporate Members and Sponsors; the BAC Foundation; Arts Burlington Council; the Volunteer Council; the City of Burlington; the Ontario Arts Council; the Provincial Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation; The Canada Council of the Arts; and the Federal Department of Canadian Heritage.
of Cornellian ilk.
t s o m l A FUNCTIONAL
COVER PHOTOS (left to right): Michael Allgoewer • Detail of ‘Desire Develops an Edge’, 1999 Brian Davis • Detail of ‘Corrugated Chippendale’, 1998 dialogue in a centre such as the
Christianne L’Esperance • Detail of ‘Altar’, 1999
Burlington Art Centre, which houses
Vesna Trkulja • Detail of ‘destroy, degrade, demolish, devastate, disrupt, displace, dispossess, dismantle, diminish’, 1999
MICHAEL ALLGOEWER
such a diverse range of artistic activity within its guilds and studios, where artists are constantly creating objects
BRIAN DAVIS
both functional and non-functional in an attempt to tell their own personal stories. This historic counterpoint, the
generally take for granted in the objects of our everyday existence.
notion of craft versus fine art, function versus non-function, is a
The use of materials laden with meaning and metaphor is a device
lively issue here. Is there truly a division between the two, as has
used to explore and explain the layers of idea and memory
been traditionally proclaimed? If so where is the divide? The work
attached to complex feelings and emotions. The artists’ explo-
of the artists in this exhibition suggests a false separation of the
rations and juxtapositions of materials and ideas expand our
two, the blurring of boundaries, the insignificance of the question,
awareness of the importance of the everyday, of the dialogue
the problems of a too dogmatic approach. The issue for them
between the function or non-function of an object, what is useful
is the telling of the story, and the materials arrive as they will to
and what is not useful in our culture. This is a particularly relevant
perform the important function of communication.
CHRISTIANNE L’ESPERANCE 1333 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington Ontario L7S 1A9 Telephone: (905) 632-7796 • Fax: (905) 632-0278 Email: Info@burlingtonar tcentre.on.ca • Website: www.burlingtonartcentre.on.ca This publication, ‘Almost Functional’, accompanied the exhibition ‘Almost Functional: Michael Allgoewer, Brian Davis, Christianne L’Esperance, Vesna Trkulja’ at the Burlington Art Centre, Burlington, Ontario June 25 to September 19, 1999 Curator: Dawn White Beatty Essay and Poems: Dawn White Beatty Publication Design: Wordsmith Design & Advertising, Hamilton
CURATOR: DAWN WHITE BEATTY ISBN#0-919752-62-4
VESNA TRKULJA
BURLINGTON
ART
CENTRE
J U N E 2 5 T O S E P T E M B E R 19 , 19 9 9
MICHAEL ALLGOEWER
CHRISTIANNE
Michael Allgoewer’s works with wood, slate, gold and metal
precarious position of the weapon maker and target. In the
Christianne L’Esperance offers lush fabrics, folds
artist develops the work. “In the case of Altar, for
“Whenever something is taken away from ‘where it belongs’
involves a time-consuming technical challenge that may fail.
leaf, found objects and natural thorns begin as suggestions of
artist’s words: “The arrows of desire are fired randomly by an unseen
and textures, compulsive attention to historic
example, the “function” which once was the entire
and given a new home to which, perhaps, it doesn’t seem to
This was the case when I knitted my replica of the stocking
religious and historical icons and work through notions of
hand. Plucked from the quiver and drawn back by a force too great to
detail in female costume, elaborate baroque fram-
purpose of the material has now been joined by a fur-
relate, a new story begins to form around it. This aesthetic
without a pattern – my reply to her memory.”
power and persuasion. They are intense and elegant and suggest
measure, the arrow finds release from the necessary tension of the
ing and enclosed, secret places in her box works
ther, less utilitarian one, this time acknowledging the
exile, if we can so term it, informs ‘Enigmatic Embrace’
The symmetry of arrangements of multiples to
dangerous actions or thoughts. He has created a new installa-
bow. The shaft passes through the invisible shield and penetrates the
and assemblages.
actual appearance, the look and feel of the screen as
where a replica of one of the silk stockings in which Eleonora
produce pattern, the obsessive, time consuming
tion work for this exhibition. Entitled ‘Desire Develops an Edge’,
elusive human heart on the pedestal. When the arrow strikes, the
‘Altar’ is an intricately folded construction of
well as its original purpose. It has to be stressed that
of Toledo was buried is itself enshrined in a fetishistic casket
process of producing small perfect objects that
it is a construction that suggests medieval warfare. An arrow of
effect is immediate and irrevocable. A wound is opened and the inter-
origami like forms of painted aluminum screen-
this latter has not been entirely abandoned since the
of sorts, lined in gold and standing like a displaced architec-
suggest function as clothing or accessories, and the
grand size hangs suspended as if being catapulted across the
nal, eternal bleeding begins.”
ing, built into a grid of open sided, paper covered
mesh continues its life as a filtering agent, only now
tural member. The luxury of the materials and the mystery
assembling of these odd objects (from functional
boxes. The entire effect is that of an intricately
metaphorically rather than physically – a point that
created by their dream-like intersection is the heart and soul
materials) into forms reminiscent of furniture or
carved altar or screen, or richly patterned brocade
would not be made if we were ever unable to identify
that guides me to completion…. Sometimes it starts with a
furnishings all come together to produce work of
in three dimensions; through the meditative act
the material that has been used.”
dream and I’m compelled by it; elements beginning to emerge
great tactile beauty and intensity.
and indicating my direction. I follow faithfully, even when it
‘ALTAR’ • 1999 • CHRISTIANNE L’ESPERANCE
gallery from an obviously nonfunctional bow structure. The whole assemblage suggests the absurdity of the weapon and the
DETAIL OF THE INSTALLATION ‘DESIRE DEVELOPS AN EDGE’ • 1999 MICHAEL ALLGOEWER
of repetition and the poetics of geometry the
Of the work ‘Enigmatic Embrace’ the artist speaks:
Brian Davis’s cupboards, cabinets and boxes are
forest and solitude – a fantastic place of
Woodstove scents and smoky tendrils of a
containers of imagination and exhibit a fine tuned
imagination and wonder, steeped in a broth
cold, snow day escape, and into Brian’s work-
sensitivity to the combination of cast-off materials
of time to re-emerge as magical sculptural
shop we go like Gullivers among wondrous
and fine craftsmanship. Materials as diverse as
assemblage, an Alice in Wonderland concoc-
cupboards of glorious coats, magical potions
reclaimed tin and pine, old doors and windows,
tion combining childhood play and adult
and tiny furniture dreamscapes made with
metal hooks and old furniture parts are transformed
domestication. Brian reluctantly approaches
bits and parts from other peoples’ lives… frag-
into objects that could be, might be… functional.
this adult world, embellishing it whenever
ments sawed and hammered into narratives
For this exhibition the artist has created a fantasy
possible with his fantastic collection of
of fantasy and wonder, imagination loosed,
landscape that includes a life size cabin and its entire
details, eccentric settings and special worlds
the conjurer, delighted, rubs his hands…
contents, settled around a memory that the artist
of imagination within the functional frame-
holds precious, of a special uncle and his world of
work of woodworking.
‘STORE FRONT WARDROBE’ • 1989 • BRIAN DAVIS
PETER STEVENS
B R I A N D AV I S Studio visit to Brian:
L’ E S P E R A N C E
VESNA
TRKULJA
Vesna Trkulja begins with the idea of
and hardware. Her works often carry with them painful family
Yugoslavia. It is a large piece, about 8’x3’, and very heavy. The artist
female costume, dress and vest, and
history, in the form of photographs or transparencies of a personal
suspends this piece in the gallery; with the act of suspension the
meticulously assembles vast numbers of
or historical nature, assembled into garments that are somehow
artist hopes to remove the weight of mourning from her mother.
small parts into painfully uncomfortable
more narrative structures than functional clothing. The work ‘Her
An accompanying piece is ‘destroy, degrade, demolish, devastate,
garments, speaking of constraint, unwill-
Sorrow’ is a mourning cloak that the artist made for her mother as
disrupt, displace, dispossess, dismantle and diminish’, a dress form that
ing confinement, unhappy bodies within.
she watched her mourn the death of her brother, Vesna’s uncle. It
bristles with burned tiles and copper wires and represents the
Her materials are unsettling assemblages
is made of roofing tiles, wood, acrylic medium, metal leaf, lacquer
artist’s frustration and anger at her inability to help her family
of wire, copper and sheet metal, coins
and photo transparencies – small old photographs from family
members in war torn Yugoslavia. The title derives from words
‘DESTROY, DEGRADE, DEMOLISH, DEVASTATE, DISRUPT, DISPLACE, DISPOSSESS, DISMANTLE, DIMINISH’ • 1999 • VESNA TRKULJA
archives of generations of her family, and museum photographs of
uttered by a NATO general when asked about the bombing by
the wars that they have been subjected to and victim of the former
NATO of Belgrade and Novi Sad in 1999.
MICHAEL ALLGOEWER
CHRISTIANNE
Michael Allgoewer’s works with wood, slate, gold and metal
precarious position of the weapon maker and target. In the
Christianne L’Esperance offers lush fabrics, folds
artist develops the work. “In the case of Altar, for
“Whenever something is taken away from ‘where it belongs’
involves a time-consuming technical challenge that may fail.
leaf, found objects and natural thorns begin as suggestions of
artist’s words: “The arrows of desire are fired randomly by an unseen
and textures, compulsive attention to historic
example, the “function” which once was the entire
and given a new home to which, perhaps, it doesn’t seem to
This was the case when I knitted my replica of the stocking
religious and historical icons and work through notions of
hand. Plucked from the quiver and drawn back by a force too great to
detail in female costume, elaborate baroque fram-
purpose of the material has now been joined by a fur-
relate, a new story begins to form around it. This aesthetic
without a pattern – my reply to her memory.”
power and persuasion. They are intense and elegant and suggest
measure, the arrow finds release from the necessary tension of the
ing and enclosed, secret places in her box works
ther, less utilitarian one, this time acknowledging the
exile, if we can so term it, informs ‘Enigmatic Embrace’
The symmetry of arrangements of multiples to
dangerous actions or thoughts. He has created a new installa-
bow. The shaft passes through the invisible shield and penetrates the
and assemblages.
actual appearance, the look and feel of the screen as
where a replica of one of the silk stockings in which Eleonora
produce pattern, the obsessive, time consuming
tion work for this exhibition. Entitled ‘Desire Develops an Edge’,
elusive human heart on the pedestal. When the arrow strikes, the
‘Altar’ is an intricately folded construction of
well as its original purpose. It has to be stressed that
of Toledo was buried is itself enshrined in a fetishistic casket
process of producing small perfect objects that
it is a construction that suggests medieval warfare. An arrow of
effect is immediate and irrevocable. A wound is opened and the inter-
origami like forms of painted aluminum screen-
this latter has not been entirely abandoned since the
of sorts, lined in gold and standing like a displaced architec-
suggest function as clothing or accessories, and the
grand size hangs suspended as if being catapulted across the
nal, eternal bleeding begins.”
ing, built into a grid of open sided, paper covered
mesh continues its life as a filtering agent, only now
tural member. The luxury of the materials and the mystery
assembling of these odd objects (from functional
boxes. The entire effect is that of an intricately
metaphorically rather than physically – a point that
created by their dream-like intersection is the heart and soul
materials) into forms reminiscent of furniture or
carved altar or screen, or richly patterned brocade
would not be made if we were ever unable to identify
that guides me to completion…. Sometimes it starts with a
furnishings all come together to produce work of
in three dimensions; through the meditative act
the material that has been used.”
dream and I’m compelled by it; elements beginning to emerge
great tactile beauty and intensity.
and indicating my direction. I follow faithfully, even when it
‘ALTAR’ • 1999 • CHRISTIANNE L’ESPERANCE
gallery from an obviously nonfunctional bow structure. The whole assemblage suggests the absurdity of the weapon and the
DETAIL OF THE INSTALLATION ‘DESIRE DEVELOPS AN EDGE’ • 1999 MICHAEL ALLGOEWER
of repetition and the poetics of geometry the
Of the work ‘Enigmatic Embrace’ the artist speaks:
Brian Davis’s cupboards, cabinets and boxes are
forest and solitude – a fantastic place of
Woodstove scents and smoky tendrils of a
containers of imagination and exhibit a fine tuned
imagination and wonder, steeped in a broth
cold, snow day escape, and into Brian’s work-
sensitivity to the combination of cast-off materials
of time to re-emerge as magical sculptural
shop we go like Gullivers among wondrous
and fine craftsmanship. Materials as diverse as
assemblage, an Alice in Wonderland concoc-
cupboards of glorious coats, magical potions
reclaimed tin and pine, old doors and windows,
tion combining childhood play and adult
and tiny furniture dreamscapes made with
metal hooks and old furniture parts are transformed
domestication. Brian reluctantly approaches
bits and parts from other peoples’ lives… frag-
into objects that could be, might be… functional.
this adult world, embellishing it whenever
ments sawed and hammered into narratives
For this exhibition the artist has created a fantasy
possible with his fantastic collection of
of fantasy and wonder, imagination loosed,
landscape that includes a life size cabin and its entire
details, eccentric settings and special worlds
the conjurer, delighted, rubs his hands…
contents, settled around a memory that the artist
of imagination within the functional frame-
holds precious, of a special uncle and his world of
work of woodworking.
‘STORE FRONT WARDROBE’ • 1989 • BRIAN DAVIS
PETER STEVENS
B R I A N D AV I S Studio visit to Brian:
L’ E S P E R A N C E
VESNA
TRKULJA
Vesna Trkulja begins with the idea of
and hardware. Her works often carry with them painful family
Yugoslavia. It is a large piece, about 8’x3’, and very heavy. The artist
female costume, dress and vest, and
history, in the form of photographs or transparencies of a personal
suspends this piece in the gallery; with the act of suspension the
meticulously assembles vast numbers of
or historical nature, assembled into garments that are somehow
artist hopes to remove the weight of mourning from her mother.
small parts into painfully uncomfortable
more narrative structures than functional clothing. The work ‘Her
An accompanying piece is ‘destroy, degrade, demolish, devastate,
garments, speaking of constraint, unwill-
Sorrow’ is a mourning cloak that the artist made for her mother as
disrupt, displace, dispossess, dismantle and diminish’, a dress form that
ing confinement, unhappy bodies within.
she watched her mourn the death of her brother, Vesna’s uncle. It
bristles with burned tiles and copper wires and represents the
Her materials are unsettling assemblages
is made of roofing tiles, wood, acrylic medium, metal leaf, lacquer
artist’s frustration and anger at her inability to help her family
of wire, copper and sheet metal, coins
and photo transparencies – small old photographs from family
members in war torn Yugoslavia. The title derives from words
‘DESTROY, DEGRADE, DEMOLISH, DEVASTATE, DISRUPT, DISPLACE, DISPOSSESS, DISMANTLE, DIMINISH’ • 1999 • VESNA TRKULJA
archives of generations of her family, and museum photographs of
uttered by a NATO general when asked about the bombing by
the wars that they have been subjected to and victim of the former
NATO of Belgrade and Novi Sad in 1999.
MICHAEL ALLGOEWER
CHRISTIANNE
Michael Allgoewer’s works with wood, slate, gold and metal
precarious position of the weapon maker and target. In the
Christianne L’Esperance offers lush fabrics, folds
artist develops the work. “In the case of Altar, for
“Whenever something is taken away from ‘where it belongs’
involves a time-consuming technical challenge that may fail.
leaf, found objects and natural thorns begin as suggestions of
artist’s words: “The arrows of desire are fired randomly by an unseen
and textures, compulsive attention to historic
example, the “function” which once was the entire
and given a new home to which, perhaps, it doesn’t seem to
This was the case when I knitted my replica of the stocking
religious and historical icons and work through notions of
hand. Plucked from the quiver and drawn back by a force too great to
detail in female costume, elaborate baroque fram-
purpose of the material has now been joined by a fur-
relate, a new story begins to form around it. This aesthetic
without a pattern – my reply to her memory.”
power and persuasion. They are intense and elegant and suggest
measure, the arrow finds release from the necessary tension of the
ing and enclosed, secret places in her box works
ther, less utilitarian one, this time acknowledging the
exile, if we can so term it, informs ‘Enigmatic Embrace’
The symmetry of arrangements of multiples to
dangerous actions or thoughts. He has created a new installa-
bow. The shaft passes through the invisible shield and penetrates the
and assemblages.
actual appearance, the look and feel of the screen as
where a replica of one of the silk stockings in which Eleonora
produce pattern, the obsessive, time consuming
tion work for this exhibition. Entitled ‘Desire Develops an Edge’,
elusive human heart on the pedestal. When the arrow strikes, the
‘Altar’ is an intricately folded construction of
well as its original purpose. It has to be stressed that
of Toledo was buried is itself enshrined in a fetishistic casket
process of producing small perfect objects that
it is a construction that suggests medieval warfare. An arrow of
effect is immediate and irrevocable. A wound is opened and the inter-
origami like forms of painted aluminum screen-
this latter has not been entirely abandoned since the
of sorts, lined in gold and standing like a displaced architec-
suggest function as clothing or accessories, and the
grand size hangs suspended as if being catapulted across the
nal, eternal bleeding begins.”
ing, built into a grid of open sided, paper covered
mesh continues its life as a filtering agent, only now
tural member. The luxury of the materials and the mystery
assembling of these odd objects (from functional
boxes. The entire effect is that of an intricately
metaphorically rather than physically – a point that
created by their dream-like intersection is the heart and soul
materials) into forms reminiscent of furniture or
carved altar or screen, or richly patterned brocade
would not be made if we were ever unable to identify
that guides me to completion…. Sometimes it starts with a
furnishings all come together to produce work of
in three dimensions; through the meditative act
the material that has been used.”
dream and I’m compelled by it; elements beginning to emerge
great tactile beauty and intensity.
and indicating my direction. I follow faithfully, even when it
‘ALTAR’ • 1999 • CHRISTIANNE L’ESPERANCE
gallery from an obviously nonfunctional bow structure. The whole assemblage suggests the absurdity of the weapon and the
DETAIL OF THE INSTALLATION ‘DESIRE DEVELOPS AN EDGE’ • 1999 MICHAEL ALLGOEWER
of repetition and the poetics of geometry the
Of the work ‘Enigmatic Embrace’ the artist speaks:
Brian Davis’s cupboards, cabinets and boxes are
forest and solitude – a fantastic place of
Woodstove scents and smoky tendrils of a
containers of imagination and exhibit a fine tuned
imagination and wonder, steeped in a broth
cold, snow day escape, and into Brian’s work-
sensitivity to the combination of cast-off materials
of time to re-emerge as magical sculptural
shop we go like Gullivers among wondrous
and fine craftsmanship. Materials as diverse as
assemblage, an Alice in Wonderland concoc-
cupboards of glorious coats, magical potions
reclaimed tin and pine, old doors and windows,
tion combining childhood play and adult
and tiny furniture dreamscapes made with
metal hooks and old furniture parts are transformed
domestication. Brian reluctantly approaches
bits and parts from other peoples’ lives… frag-
into objects that could be, might be… functional.
this adult world, embellishing it whenever
ments sawed and hammered into narratives
For this exhibition the artist has created a fantasy
possible with his fantastic collection of
of fantasy and wonder, imagination loosed,
landscape that includes a life size cabin and its entire
details, eccentric settings and special worlds
the conjurer, delighted, rubs his hands…
contents, settled around a memory that the artist
of imagination within the functional frame-
holds precious, of a special uncle and his world of
work of woodworking.
‘STORE FRONT WARDROBE’ • 1989 • BRIAN DAVIS
PETER STEVENS
B R I A N D AV I S Studio visit to Brian:
L’ E S P E R A N C E
VESNA
TRKULJA
Vesna Trkulja begins with the idea of
and hardware. Her works often carry with them painful family
Yugoslavia. It is a large piece, about 8’x3’, and very heavy. The artist
female costume, dress and vest, and
history, in the form of photographs or transparencies of a personal
suspends this piece in the gallery; with the act of suspension the
meticulously assembles vast numbers of
or historical nature, assembled into garments that are somehow
artist hopes to remove the weight of mourning from her mother.
small parts into painfully uncomfortable
more narrative structures than functional clothing. The work ‘Her
An accompanying piece is ‘destroy, degrade, demolish, devastate,
garments, speaking of constraint, unwill-
Sorrow’ is a mourning cloak that the artist made for her mother as
disrupt, displace, dispossess, dismantle and diminish’, a dress form that
ing confinement, unhappy bodies within.
she watched her mourn the death of her brother, Vesna’s uncle. It
bristles with burned tiles and copper wires and represents the
Her materials are unsettling assemblages
is made of roofing tiles, wood, acrylic medium, metal leaf, lacquer
artist’s frustration and anger at her inability to help her family
of wire, copper and sheet metal, coins
and photo transparencies – small old photographs from family
members in war torn Yugoslavia. The title derives from words
‘DESTROY, DEGRADE, DEMOLISH, DEVASTATE, DISRUPT, DISPLACE, DISPOSSESS, DISMANTLE, DIMINISH’ • 1999 • VESNA TRKULJA
archives of generations of her family, and museum photographs of
uttered by a NATO general when asked about the bombing by
the wars that they have been subjected to and victim of the former
NATO of Belgrade and Novi Sad in 1999.
The works of these four regional
f o u n d o b j e c t s, f e t i s h - l i k e e l e -
a r t i s t s a re s c u l p t u ra l a s s e m -
m e n t s, o p u l e n t
blages;
neglected
materials
and The Burlington Art Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial support of
they
a re
constructed
q u i r k y,
These artists obsessively assemble, compulsively construct, lovingly craft their own unique visions of our most familiar objects and cultural icons. Their particular treatments of these forms and their unique choices of materials allow the works to take on a certain ambiguity that
c o n j u re d
i n t o fa n t a s y wo rk s
u s i n g c o m p u l s i ve l y collected,
c a s t - o f f s,
The objects that these artists make are on the verge… they begin at functional and wander into a place of maybe or not quite, just about or very close to…
challenges us to look closer at what we
our Membership, Corporate Members and Sponsors; the BAC Foundation; Arts Burlington Council; the Volunteer Council; the City of Burlington; the Ontario Arts Council; the Provincial Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation; The Canada Council of the Arts; and the Federal Department of Canadian Heritage.
of Cornellian ilk.
t s o m l A FUNCTIONAL
COVER PHOTOS (left to right): Michael Allgoewer • Detail of ‘Desire Develops an Edge’, 1999 Brian Davis • Detail of ‘Corrugated Chippendale’, 1998 dialogue in a centre such as the
Christianne L’Esperance • Detail of ‘Altar’, 1999
Burlington Art Centre, which houses
Vesna Trkulja • Detail of ‘destroy, degrade, demolish, devastate, disrupt, displace, dispossess, dismantle, diminish’, 1999
MICHAEL ALLGOEWER
such a diverse range of artistic activity within its guilds and studios, where artists are constantly creating objects
BRIAN DAVIS
both functional and non-functional in an attempt to tell their own personal stories. This historic counterpoint, the
generally take for granted in the objects of our everyday existence.
notion of craft versus fine art, function versus non-function, is a
The use of materials laden with meaning and metaphor is a device
lively issue here. Is there truly a division between the two, as has
used to explore and explain the layers of idea and memory
been traditionally proclaimed? If so where is the divide? The work
attached to complex feelings and emotions. The artists’ explo-
of the artists in this exhibition suggests a false separation of the
rations and juxtapositions of materials and ideas expand our
two, the blurring of boundaries, the insignificance of the question,
awareness of the importance of the everyday, of the dialogue
the problems of a too dogmatic approach. The issue for them
between the function or non-function of an object, what is useful
is the telling of the story, and the materials arrive as they will to
and what is not useful in our culture. This is a particularly relevant
perform the important function of communication.
CHRISTIANNE L’ESPERANCE 1333 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington Ontario L7S 1A9 Telephone: (905) 632-7796 • Fax: (905) 632-0278 Email: Info@burlingtonar tcentre.on.ca • Website: www.burlingtonartcentre.on.ca This publication, ‘Almost Functional’, accompanied the exhibition ‘Almost Functional: Michael Allgoewer, Brian Davis, Christianne L’Esperance, Vesna Trkulja’ at the Burlington Art Centre, Burlington, Ontario June 25 to September 19, 1999 Curator: Dawn White Beatty Essay and Poems: Dawn White Beatty Publication Design: Wordsmith Design & Advertising, Hamilton
CURATOR: DAWN WHITE BEATTY ISBN#0-919752-62-4
VESNA TRKULJA
BURLINGTON
ART
CENTRE
J U N E 2 5 T O S E P T E M B E R 19 , 19 9 9