It wasn’t what I was anticipating for October’s art crawl, but when Andrew McPhail asked whether I’d be willing to perform for “disfigure it out”, I was all over it. Like band-aids on a face. Because how often do you get the chance to meditate for 90 minutes at hundred dollar gallery? Not every day. I recommend the experience to anyone and everyone. By the end of it, I had intimate knowledge of the bust’s complexion: the deliberate layering over the nose, the angled accents across the forehead, and the absence of any covering over the ears. For obvious reasons I was also grateful for unobstructed nostrils, and for a comfortable sweater (the October breeze was never far away). The real interest though was in the comments of visitors. Being objectified as a “work” of art as in “is this your work?”, and being in earshot of, and privy to such comments as “I guess he can hear everything we’re saying”. Aside from issues of the mask, and the current political discussion in Canada (orbiting around Zunera Ishaq) about the niqab, I also had my own aesthetic reflection on the experience. There’s nothing like a good Zen meditation. And there’s also nothing quite like an accumulation of band aid (solutions). They so seem to reach a point where their collective layers begin to constitute the kind of crust that isn’t merely superficial. Do you think it’s fair to call this band aid collective an appendage with substance?
Thanks to Maureen Paxton and Andrew McPhail for the photos and to hundreddollargallery for being so affordable.