Wink wink, nudge, nudge: Teresa Ascenção's dolls sometimes play with themselves, if you know what she means

In the line-up are the simultaneous openings of three visual art exhibits, a website launch party, and a fundraising book sale. The crowd can mingle with exhibitors Teresa Ascenção, Sylvia Borda, and Trudie Cheng as DJ Luis Jacob (of Toronto's The Hidden Cameras) pumps life into the party with his trademark combination of early electro, Italo-disco and acid house.

Co- artistic director of Galerie SAW Gallery, Stefan St-Laurent says having something for everyone is part of a strategy to "get larger audiences and get more people to come together and get into contact with contemporary art."

He could be talking about an exhibit called Maria by Toronto artist Ascenção, which critiques how, "religion has shaped the female gender role." Ascenção uses "lenticular imaging," which might better be understood as pictures covered in plastic so when you move side to side the picture changes. Think of your childhood and a prize in a crackerjack box to conjure up a clue.

The series features a doll in various Portuguese traditional settings, and St-Laurent said that doll is, "doing very bad things." Ascenção explained, "I wanted to make the series playful, so I felt that using humour would make the difficult subject matter more palatable." Well, yes, the flirtatious doll is not only playful but is literally playing with herself.

The gallery will also introduce its new website (www.garleriesawgallery.com) which will open with Minimalist Portraits, the web-based artwork of Sylvia Borda, to activate SAW's mandate to collect and display net art.

Borda explains how many people understand the Internet as a tool to find information, but she hopes her net artwork might "hybridize the user's perception of how art history appears and what to anticipate from an online artwork."

Each artist will speak briefly about their work and will be available to speak with guests.

It all happens at SAW Gallery, 67 Nicholas Street, Thursday, May 13 at 8 p.m. It's free but donations will be accepted for drinks. The show runs until June 11.

 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

Originally from Montreal I was just directed to SAW gallery and it looks real to me     I'm disabled because of MS and now living downtown and just screaming to get my art around this here capital I've been and still am a musician, writer, painter for over 35 years and now that the stage is kinda hard for me to handle I've been concentrating on my Painted Diary. I made a name for myself on the web thru my official site http://lorangeart.com but it's high time for me to come up with rent money and you know ... Thus a dynamic gallery such as yours sounds really interesting to me and so right. I hope to meet up with some of you before too late. Laura Moses' Action on line and in the gallery just grabbed me and since I am not looking for clones it seems to me we could get along in diversity without adversity. That makes for real living art where the name of the game is do with conviction and follow your own drummer cause it takes dedication to be alone and as I see it a true artist is alone even as part of a group. Originality is in the motive for creating I truly believe. The way will never totally be original but a convinced individual stubbornly sticks to his ways as if there were no choices and evolves only to feed his soul and need of expression. I'm an artist as I was born one so I don't ever really care to be right I only do what I am instinctively driven to do and hope that my language with reach someone out there. It's kinda like music to a composer, be it a whisper, a moan, a scream or a cry it's real thus it wants to be heard, seen, touched and/or felt of course but it absolutely must be expressed always. I wish you all much success and hope to meet you soon.
LorAnge Marcel (Chris)		June 5th, 2008
SAW GALLERY     Quite interesting article. Makes one think. An online art gallery without the pop ups is sure to be a success. Think of the possibilities off an online art gallery...readers across the globe, the mishaps who stumble across an online art gallery while surfing for something else, the stuck indoor computer fanatic, the real and surreal...BRAVO. An instant window for all to view. An eventful evening with the SAW GALLERY...I am sure. Delving into the artists minds as peering at their work. All under one roof....fun and exciting. The meer thought of a flirtatious doll playing with herself opening up the closed doors of individuals to reality and acceptance. Plastic covered art to make our minds a wash and literally see a film over our lives and endeavours. To break through the film and take control. Three visual art exhibits, a website launch party, and a fundraising book sale all set the stage for a deep, mind tingling, voicing of opinion and interaction with art exhibiting conversation
Jennifer Berardini		May 17th, 2004

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