Day 5 Round 2 - Urquhart.

After being back for 21 hours, I arrive at the gallery to tie up some loose ends (pun intended- see 'return of cam'). After reading some of the jabs posted, I finished up my blog on yesterdays picks with a little bit of retaliation. I now concede about roping Darryn in and admit that he is making great efforts to bring the exhibition some cohesion. After drawing Video A-M, and getting very excited, we decide Video is off limits, as we have discussed the future of the video art we have in relation to distribution rights, ownership, and the compensation of artists. (Thanks to Deirdre at V-Tape for our meeting last week in Toronto)

On my second try, the Karmic tin awards me with solander box 10, and I curse my way all the way back to the collection room and find a box full of works by Tony Urquhart, a regional artist of whom we have plenty in our collection.

(Interestingly the only other work in the box was that of Ray Robinson who taught at Lambton College with our education coordinator, Dave. As well, during last week's trip to Toronto we saw a Robinson piece that was rescued from a flea market by Artist/Curator Jason Baerg, who was also one of his students. Small, Canadian art world, eh? If my early ideas of Canadian art and the relations between teachers and students had taken a major role in the development of the exhibition I would have gladly found a place for it.)

Born in Niagara Falls, Urquhart studied at Albright Art School and the University of Buffalo, later becoming the first artist in residence at the University of Western Ontario, launching a three decade teaching career. Now a nationally celebrated artist, Urquhart has been shown alongside and the London group that Boyle was a part of, curated 'Swinging London', and curated a two person show for Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, titled Dark Bridges. The show consisted of etchings by Hugh Mackenzie, and photographs by Jane Hinton. The exhibition made two stops, first K-WAG and then here, to Gallery Lambton, in 1997. Urquhart, also ironically was involved in founding CAR/FAC (Canadian Artists Representation), which "is incorporated federally as a non-profit corporation that is the national voice of Canada’s professional visual artists". (It's CAR/FAC that sets up the fee structure and protects artist from copyright infringement. It's this model that we use in relation to screening video art, ironically, why we have decided to exclude Video from this Smack Down)

Going through the solander box I found many Urquhart's that bare the familiar style of his drawing technique and colour. But one stood out, Urquhart's Hero, 1963 is very different than the rest of his work that we have in our collection. This image is a wood cut from a sketch Urquhart did of a French-Napoleonic uniform, displayed at the Musee de Louvre, in Paris, 1958. This image is easily read as Napoleon, though there is an absence of figure, the clothing that remains is displayed. The clothing really does make the man. Though this uniform could have been worn by any official of the Napoleonic era, as Canadians we often only recognise the icon. Napoleon's relevance to Québécois is one of a cultural martyr. Author Sen. Serge Joyal explains, “When the British defeated Napoleonic France, French Canadians were put in a situation where commerce, international relations, leadership were in British hands. So in order for them to maintain their language, culture and institutions, they had to constantly affirm their identity. The person who best personified this resistance was Napoleon. Very quickly, they took up Napoleon as a hero in their battle against the English.”( Quoted by Martin Patriquin on Thursday, June 3, 2010 11:20am for Macleans- http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/06/03/what-would-napoleon-do/ )

This relationship of national identity is interesting as the colony of New France spread over North America's heartland, seizing a vast area from the First Nations stretching from Louisiana to Newfoundland, only to later find themselves at the mercy of British take over. The French who settled in Canada found themselves in the same struggle to preserve their own culture as the aboriginal Canadians. It is interesting to see how this 'hero', when placed in dialogue with Boyles Shaganappi Point and Northern Landscape, as well as Oonark' Inuk Catching A Bird, presents a new voice on the struggle to maintain ones cultural identity on national and international levels.

The placing of Hero was also important as it relates aesthetically to Bozacks sketch of Paul Henderson, which is also a circular framed 'hero'. There is also a relation personally with Mackenzie's etching, aesthetically invoking humanity, in contrast, by not illustrating a figure but suggesting a character. Ultimately Hero is stronger in the company of Boyle, and conveniently may pull Tascona back into play. (if only the ladder could stay)