This show at the downtown London (ON) Michael Gibson Gallery of large, possibly unfinished Curnoe works from the 1961-1965 period accompanied by numerous smaller sculptural pieces will be one of the most important Canadian art show in Ontario this year – but also likely, alas, to be little known outside of London. The show includes the last large works from the early 60s period remaining in his studio and the last remaining constructions from incidental materials similar to his celebrated Drawer Full of Stuff of 1961.
The central piece of the exhibition, an 18-foot tryptich presenting the outline of a female nude in three poses, in fluorescent orange, red, green and blue, and on its verso coordinated portraits of Louis Riel and the Rolling Stones in similar areas of unvariegated colour, is remarkable in numerous ways. Not the least is that it shows Curnoe working at large-scale installation art in the early 1960s, before the term was coined and long before it entered the Oxford in 1969, and before his Kamikaze painting/sculpture of 1967. As well, this stunning triptych has
The central piece of the exhibition, an 18-foot tryptich presenting the outline of a female nude in three poses, in fluorescent orange, red, green and blue, and on its verso coordinated portraits of Louis Riel and the Rolling Stones in similar areas of unvariegated colour, is remarkable in numerous ways. Not the least is that it shows Curnoe working at large-scale installation art in the early 1960s, before the term was coined and long before it entered the Oxford in 1969, and before his Kamikaze painting/sculpture of 1967. As well, this stunning triptych has
all the elements that one is familiar with in Curnoe’s mature work – the fluorescent areas of plain colour, the extraordinary rendering of spatial proportions, the combinations of text, collage, carpentry and paint, the use of text to comment on the process of creating the work, and the use of templated fonts. It’s thus a major piece in the history both of Curnoe’s development and of world art. Curnoe may have abandoned it because of the difficulty of combining and erecting its three parts – the legs he had made for it were insufficient and have been replaced for this exhibition. He had attached metals eyes to the top, possibly in hopes of suspending the pieces from a ceiling. He also appears to have had misgivings about some of the visual elements. The text on the left panel appears to be on its way to being erased. On the centre panel there is an uncharacteristically blurred area beside the chin of the blue-and-
orange-striped woman. These blurs of indecision appear in some of the other large works in the exhibition – as around the figure’s arm in Jim About to be Cornholed by a Mail Bag (detail left). The other major work in the exhibition, Sheila’s Legs I, II, III, IV, is similarly sculptural. Two of its sections, as I recall, were once hung in separate places in the Curnoe house. It consists of four 2-foot square abstracted paintings of a lower leg and knee, with similarly painted sections of board attached to one or two of the edges, and hung as a series of diamonds.
The gallery has thoughtfully framed this exhibition that is centered on an unfinished work as the space of a working artist. It has brought Curnoe’s original work table into the gallery and arranged his brushes and various materials on it. It has hung some of his collages, assemblages and constructions around it much as they sometimes would be seen in his studio. Besides the two major works the show offers four other large paintings and a dozen or more of the small works.
This is a show you’ll regret not seeing. It continues until February 22nd. You can also have a virtual look on the Michael Gibson Gallery website. While you are there you can have a virtual walkabout of the exhibition, watch Curnoe's 1965 "No Movie," or watch and listen to a "Mini Documentary" in which various people who knew Curnoe tell what they recall of him from the 1960s.
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