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April 1998 Artcore is proud to present the work of internationally-renowned American artist Dennis Oppenheim at two venues through the month of April. In this exhibition, his first in Toronto in twenty years, Oppenheim's recent installation work is brought into focus with a complement of scale models and preparatory drawings. In both the precursory works and the fully realized installations, Oppenheim's works are humorous, violent, subversive and elegant. Combining metaphor (connotation) with literal meaning (denotation), these works traverse a vast plain of inference and meaning, from potentially violent takes on interpersonal relationships to subversively tongue-in-cheek commentaries on architecture, aesthetics and modern modes of production. Making reference to absence more than to presence - the absence of a person, an emotion or a relationship - there is a bittersweet longing implicit in Oppenheim's oeuvre. Kinetic installations, their mechanics exposed, use machines to both enact and sublimate the range of human emotions. In creating and exhibiting machines that grow, eat, replicate, burn, cry and kiss, the artist lays bare the foibles of the human condition with wry detachment. In viewing Oppenheim's working drawings and scale models for the larger installations, we are able to trace the development of his ideas and enter into dialogue with them. Seeing the works laid out on paper as blueprints, developed into maquettes and then realized in full size allows us to feel that we have a connection to the creative process, a sense of satisfaction at their completion. Dennis Oppenheim is among the most inventive and energetic artists of the late 20th century. Since the late 1960s, Oppenheim has had numerous exhibitions in North America and around the world, including a major showing of his work as part of the 1997 Venice Biennale. Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 - 5:00 For information, telephone (416) 920 3820 |