#32 Homage to Parenthood

Image Gallery

Who made this sculpture?

Toni Latour is a multidisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, Canada.  She works in video, sound, photography, installation, text-based work, drawing and performance art.  Latour received her BFA from the University of Windsor in 1998 and her MFA from the University of Western Ontario in 2000.  She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally since 1994 and has received numerous grants and awards in support of her practice.  Latour’s work is included in several catalogues and publications by Artspeak, The Burnaby Art Gallery, PaperWait, Aspect: The Chronicle of New Media Art, MIX Magazine and Border Crossings.  Her art is held in both public and private collections, including the Portrait Gallery of Canada and the Surrey Art Gallery.  Toni Latour teaches Media Art at Capilano University in British Columbia.

Explore

How was this made?

This conceptual work of art was inspired by the artist’s father, and the sayings that he would use to teach and speak to his children.  The work began with Toni Latour writing down remembered phrases and then researching existing cultural clichés and idioms.  Combining both of these sources, her list grew to over 100 sayings.  From there, the artist edited and ordered the sayings in a poetic fashion, considering literary flow and sometimes considering narrative connection between each line.  Once her list was complete, Latour entered the 100 lines of text into Photoshop and hand selected each colour to replicate the colour spectrum of a rainbow.  This work was originally a 15 foot long print, but was adapted for installation at Brighouse Skytrain station, making it a site-specific work of art.  The final piece in Richmond exists as a 6-panel installation facing people as they enter the station.

What ideas are being explored in this work?

This work explores ideas of language, familial upbringing, and the cultural specificity of clichés and idioms.  For the artist, it also exists as an homage to her recently deceased father.

How does this work connect to artist’s other work?

Toni Latour has been working on several text-based works over the last few years.  Top 20 is an archival inkjet print from 2008.  In an attempt to expose and disrupt patriarchy in the local art world, this piece lists the top 20 artists in Vancouver, all of whom are male.  The work, with its phallic configuration of names, is influenced by feminist artists like The Guerrilla Girls and Carolee Schneemann and writer Linda Nochlin.

I've Never Heard of You is a neon sign, also made in 2008.  It is inspired by a conversation the artist had with a representative from the Canada Council for the Arts.  This piece humorously examines Latour's continuous reflection on art world dynamics and her career as an artist.

Glossary

Conceptual Art – Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea is the most important element of the work and takes precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns.

Clichés – A cliché is a frequently used saying or expression that is expected or predictable.  Clichés are often thought of in a pejorative manner, but they are not always false or inaccurate.  Some clichés are stereotypes, while others are simple truths.

Idioms – An idiom is an expression that is often culturally derived or based in a specific language.  The meaning is not understandable from the words used (eg. she’s over the moon, get your feet wet), but is understood metaphorically and learned through cultural exposure.

Site-specific – Site-specific art is art that is created for a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account when planning and creating the work.

Installation - Installation art often has several components that are combined to create a single work.

Patriarchy – Patriarchy is a male dominated social system.

Feminist – A feminist is an advocate for women’s rights and sexual equality.

Guerrilla Girls - The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous group of radical feminist artists  established in New York City in 1985.  They are known for their posters, books, billboards, appearances and other creative forms of culture jamming that expose discrimination and corruption.  Trained as visual artists, their first work was putting up posters on the streets of New York decrying the gender and racial imbalance of artists represented in galleries and museums.  They wear gorilla masks in public and take the names of dead women artists as pseudonyms.

Carolee Schneemann - Carolee Schneemann is an American visual artist, known for  her discourses on the body, sexuality and gender.  In 1975, Schneemann performed her very famous Interior Scroll.  It was a piece in which she pulled a scroll from her vagina and read it aloud.  The text described sexism and misogyny in the art world at the time.

Linda Nochlin – Linda Nochlin is a professor and feminist art historian.  In 1971, she wrote the very influential essay "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”.

Canada Council for the Arts - The Canada Council for the Arts was established in 1957 to act as an arts council for the government of Canada.  It was created to foster and promote the study, enjoyment and production of art. It funds Canadian artists, curators galleries, museums and arts organizations.