David Liss

The design, manufacture and use of a wide range of materials for diverse purposes continually contributes to the on going fabrication of our collective and individual identities. Codes of identification become a formal structure for systems of objectification and classification which, paradoxically, have the potential to protect or destroy individual identity. Artistic expression has often been a vehicle for challenging the imposition of static ideologies upon the evolutionary flux of the human condition.

Ever since Adam and Eve were ejected from Eden, public display of the clothed human body has been a convenient, if arbitrary means of identifying social and economic status and gender. While clothing is generally considered an expression of individuality - a free choice - the implied structures of identification contradict this notion. Cathy Daley's heavy black pastel drawings of animated evening gowns, skirts and cocktail dresses examine the strictures imposed on female identity by conventional fashion design. The rich seductive formal elegance and ambiguous campy humour of her drawings barely conceal an underlying tension between erotic desire and melancholic emptiness. Oddly, despite an animated persona, these costumes are void of human presence. Although they may resemble abstract forms or empty vessels, they are clearly recognizable as the type of garments usually worn by women at social gatherings, parties or nightclubs. Specific readings or feelings aroused by the evocative forms will be dependent upon value experience each viewer brings to the work. Identification will be the result of a projected set of predetermined external signifiers and archetypes. Ironically, the garments do not require female presence or individual personality for meaning to be determined.

The relationship between feminine identity, clothing design and the body is further addressed by Janet Logan in her installation Mythe,mémoire et realité (1996). The pivotal reference for reading the work is a sewing pattern diagram which has been drawn directly onto the gallery wall in black charcoal. The other gallery walls each support a colourful, random configuration of numerous shapes and forms constructed from a variety of materials including cloth, mesh, wire, papier maché, wax and other odd bits of loose and hanging fabric. Upon closer examination of these bright and lively assemblages, it is apparent that the individual components resemble various anatomical organs and body parts and/or are actual articles of women's clothing which has been dismantled and represented as abstract forms. Referring back to the didactic formation of sewing pattern makes it clear that Logan has not followed instructions. In fact, she has completely undermined the authority of the diagram by literally deconstructing garments and presenting them in a rejuvenated context. Each item has been carefully invested with identity that does not conform to a prescribed formula. As renewed identities, the intermingled abstract shapes share a proximity and formal similarity suggestive of a relationship between clothing and the female body which is not always respected in fashion design.

Where as Cathy Daley's drawing evoke a sense of loss associated with definitions of feminine identity established through absence, Janet Logan's work initiates a cycle of rebirth and liberation from externally imposed structures.

Within this context, the installation of Barbara Brown becomes the site of an emergent state of metamorphosis. Brown created organic forms of metal wire which resembled seed pods, cocoons, egg sacks, nests, vessels, cages and intricate bundles of encapsulated energy. These are scattered about the floor and walls of the gallery, alone or in groupings, or hang suspended from the ceiling. Cast shadows and drawings made directly on the walls echo the sculptural elements as symbolic traces of resonant energy. The configuration of the objects vary and is determined by Brown's response to the specificity of the often destructive potential of industrial and mass-produced materials by using them to fabricate handmade objects and environments abundant with themes of creation, protection, shelter, rejuvenation, birth and life.

David Liss is Director of the Art Gallery at the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, Montreal.