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| Grandiose show helps solidify community |
by Kimberley Jev |
| waiting. After the drama with the Art Gallery of Calgary in November, the 1111 show was finally happening. It was something that the arts community was buzzing about. We were all talking, all worrying, all speculating, all wondering what the space would look like. Are there that many artists in Calgary? Will this event even happen? I mean just imagine, go back in time. Imagine, it is 11/01/09 and 1,111 artists, 1,111 pieces, 1,111 views, 1,111 ideas and 1,111 minds have come together at 11:11 a.m. in one space to ultimately show Calgary that the local art scene is more than alive. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, it could have gone either way,” said James Wyper, a well-established self-taught contemporary organic painter from Vancouver who moved to the city in 2001. “It could have gone so many ways, it could have been they were just throwing a whole group of people together. “I was here for the setup and everybody just found their niche and put their art on the wall. There was lots of cooperation, I knew it would be packed so I just tried to get my paintings as high as I could.” Wyper’s practice is to paint in a free-flowing manner automatically, without a set idea or concept. His processes of mixing paint directly on canvas and manipulating the paints movement with a spray bottle of water allow the paint to move. In Wyper’s work there are bursts of explosions, color everywhere, his paintings illuminate. It is very hard to come across a Wyper painting and not be transfixed by the movement displayed on canvas. My mind thinks of what the world would look like if it were to rain paint on our lives By the time I had managed to speak with Wyper, he had sold a piece approximately 72 inches by 48 inches. As the interview goes on, Lola, a friend of Wyper’s who came in from Vancouver to see the show stops by to chat. We discuss the blood and oil installation beside Wyper. Wyper refers to the neighbouring installation of blood, yes blood, real blood, in jars! This, says Wyper, is “a statement.” Behind this blood and oil exhibit is a video of the artist collecting his own blood and dripping it into oil with loops of oil extractors in a field doing exactly what the artist is doing to himself with the Earth. The 30,000 square foot room is full to the gunwales, people are buzzing and music is coming from some part of the building. The 1,111 show also featured over 30 local musicians and entertainers. In the middle of the front room there is a woman sitting on a chair bound to it with thick rope, covered in white, sitting on a chair in bondage. She can move nothing but her head and is inhaling and exhaling deeper than the depths of the blue sea. It is uncomfortable to watch, her aura is captivating. Her name is Rhean Murray, performance artist extraordinaire. The performance is called Pennies For The Prajna Paramita or Alms For The Arts. I later found out that Murray sat from 11:11 a.m to 10:22 p.m. “The whole experience is to project one’s aura into the space and to give that witness to certain things. I often reflect on where my thoughts go during a performance and how one gets through an ideal you set for yourself,” says Murray. |
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