Category: Amanda Pignotti

September 14- October 23, 2011
Blackwood Gallery
University of Toronto Mississauga

The University of Toronto at Mississauga is proudly home to the spectacular Art & Art History Program alongside Sheridan Collage. This program administers a unique and stimulating approach to the study of art and design, emphasizing studio practice as well as theoretical and art historical knowledge. Founded in 1971 with only four students under it’s banner, this year marks the 4oth anniversary of this diverse, accomplished, and successful program!

To commemorate the occasion, curator Shannon Anderson devised a collaborative curatorial approach for the exhibition, selecting artwork, designs, and films created by a diverse group of graduates. The Viva Voce exhibition, taking place at the Blackwood Gallery, features contemporary art in all media, generated by a selection of Art & Art History program alumni! Viva Voce features works devised by Dorian FitzGerald, Alison S.M. Kobayashi, Richie Mehta & Stuart A. McIntyre, Johnson Ngo, Denyse Thomasos, Carolyn Tripp, Jessica Vallentin, Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky, Andrew Wright, and Robert Zingone. Alumni participants were selected on the basis of recommendations from past and present faculty members. In keeping with the 40th year anniversary, exactly 40 faculty members were contacted for recommendations.

Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky’s Stacks

 The curatorial and exhibition method for Viva Voce is unique one, focusing on the relationship between a professor and his or her student. After all, faculty members were the ones responsible for recommending a select few program alumni. In keeping with the occasion, the exhibition exists as the product of a collective group effort made by the curator, program alumni, and professors, who all participated in this process. Not only does this exhibition exemplify the importance and complexities of a student and teacher relationship, it also illuminates the transformation of a student into a co-worker!

Viva Voce is a Latin term for “with the living voice,” a powerful and appropriate title. Within each piece of artwork exists a message or conceptual idea that has become “voiced” by its existence. This title also illustrates the many voices that have contributed to the development of this exhibition, including students, alumni, as well as the voices of faculty members.

 Denyse Thomasos, Stealth

Walking into the Blackwood Gallery doors, herds of people were gathered around crisp white walls whispering, laughing and chatting. Hung on the entrance wall of the Blackwood Gallery, first to be seen is Denyse Thomasos piece titled “Stealth.” Encompassing an assortment of architectural forms, this is also piece borderline abstraction using bright colours such as blue, green, purple and red. One must walk around this wall in order to reach the other works of art in the gallery. The contrast of the stark white walls against the coloured paintings, sculptures, and films allows the artwork itself to illuminate the gallery. Each work is drastically different, drawing in the viewer’s attention time and time again! Who would want to spend time in the Blackwood Gallery viewing works of art that are all too similar anyways? Isn’t it fitting that the exhibition incorporates a variety of mixed media artworks, in order to represent each unique artistic practice?

Carolyn Tripp, House Fire

Although physically each work of art is constructed extremely differently, and so they should be, conceptually they all represent the unique voice of each artist. Collectively the works of art represent relationships with teachers and their transition from student to graduate. Viva Voce gives students a fantastic opportunity to examine former students’ work while also giving the alumni an opportunity to further showcase their work. It is a great exchange! Students must be sure to check out this unique exhibition and join the University of Toronto at Mississauga in saluting this exciting 40th year milestone!

by Amanda Pignotti

By: Amanda Pignotti

As visitors walk toward the blackened room of the E-Gallery located on the UTM (University of Toronto at Mississauga) campus, sound before sight entices the crowd. One by one, visitors unconsciously emerge as “listeners” of a work of art, prior to becoming the “viewer”. Intimidating and boisterous tones stampede out from the E-Gallery, drawing in curious yet skeptical listeners before the piece is even seen!

The almighty creator and intelligence behind Aquaeolian Whirlpool (1990), a sound installation piece, is Gordon Monahan. Monahan is a contemporary and internationally renowned sound and multimedia artist who began his career as a pianist. The exhibition, Seeing Sound: Sound Art, Performance & Music displays Aquaeolian Whirlpool at UTM. This audacious piece of artwork investigates the musical potential of water.

Gordon Monahan, ‘Aquaeolian Whirlpool’ (1990)

Visitors stride closer to the work of art, and within seconds they become intoxicated by the roaring and rhythmic sounds emanating from the four black walls of the E-Gallery. Visitors finally step into the dimly lit gallery, soaking in its mystical aura. Naturally inquisitive eyes dash to the right of the room. Standing brightly in a dark room is Monahan’s Aquaeolian Whirlpool; at 10 feet tall this work of art encompasses a whirlpool of bright blue water in a plexiglas container. A tornado-like whirlpool is achieved by sucking water out from the bottom and back into the plexiglas container through a side tube. As this process occurs rapidly, the sea-colored water forms a vortex-like body flowing across an array of 35-meter long piano wires. Monahan himself declares, “as water rushes across the piano wires anchored in the Plexiglas container, ‘aquaeolian tones’ become activated.” Booming tones escort the flow of the whirlpool, constituting a mini tornado look-alike. Piano wires continue to rise vertically to a soundboard allowing ‘aquaeolian tones’ to amplify. Men, women and children seem equally fascinated by both the sound and sight of this enormous installation.

Gordon Monahan, ‘Aquaeolian Whirlpool’ (1990)

I sit at the gallery as an avid volunteer, and spend many hours with this particular piece. Each visitor’s reaction including my own, seems to form an analogous pattern consisting of sound enticement and intoxication, followed by a mystical visionary experience. Despite this, there are those who question this piece in a somewhat negative manner. Some visitors allege, “I could have done this” and “that is not really art, look at the great painters of the past, now that was art!” Although each visitor is entitled to his or her own personal assumption, wouldn’t paintings of antiquity bore us contemporary folks? Haven’t we studied and seen enough landscape and portrait paintings? Art, and what constitutes a “work of art” is constantly being re-invented and revolutionized. It is precisely this that makes Aquaeolian Whirlpool amusing and appealing to the eye as well as the senses.

Gordon Monahan, ‘Aquaeolian Whirlpool’ (1990)

When meeting with Monahan prior to the opening of his exhibition, he mentioned he had not once thought to produce this work in the form of a square. Instead he chose a cylindrical shape to house his vortex, an example of thinking outside of the box, literally!