{"id":18395,"date":"2013-04-17T10:16:56","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T14:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=18395"},"modified":"2013-05-04T22:10:29","modified_gmt":"2013-05-05T02:10:29","slug":"are-the-keepers-watching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=18395","title":{"rendered":"Are the Keepers watching?!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Keepers<\/strong>
\nApril 5 – May 4, 2013
\nO’Born Contemporary<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Installation view. Photo: Steph Martyniuk, Courtesy of O’Born Contemporary<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking at the whale in Your only Companion<\/em> sets the mood for the show. In front of a dark stormy sea a decomposing whale lies with a little bird on top of it. The bird would pick the whale\u2019s parasites if it were still alive, staying even now as the only companion for this wonderful, gigantic animal that commands respect even in this sorrowful state. \u201cEveryday, in the world, thousands of animals, that are part of our ecological system, are hit and run on our roads. They are victims of our expansion into their land for our benefit\u201d, states Montreal based artist Marc Nerbonne. He took thousands of shots of road-kill during his trips between Ottawa and Montreal and lately along the shoreline from Gasp\u00e9 to Montreal where fish have washed up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>Marc Nerbonne, Your only Companion, <\/em>2013, mixed media on panel, 36 x 36 inches. \u00a9 Marc Nerbonne, 2013 Courtesy of O\u2019Born Contemporary<\/span><\/p>\n

His works starts with a composition of elements – taken from road-kill photographs – that he dry mounts on a panel and then uses as a canvas. On those surfaces he tries to bring his subjects back to life by over painting them with acrylic, spray paint or encaustic. Through this procedure the artist – like a magician – breathes life back into them. The images are disturbing, lingering in some<\/span> limbo between life and death, persuading the viewer to think about the fate of these animals and our role in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>Marc Nerbonne, Carnaval,<\/em> 2013, mixed media on panel,\u00a048 x\u00a048 inches. \u00a9 Marc Nerbonne, 2013 Courtesy of O\u2019Born Contemporary<\/span><\/p>\n

The show also includes portraits of the \u201cKeepers<\/em>\u201d whose duty is to watch over all the living things. Some do. The nice, smiling lady in Carnaval<\/em> is surrounded by happy, dancing creatures playing with kites \u2013 the embodiment of nurture. In Montmorency<\/em>, a young beauty – who\u00a0reminds us of nymphs from old paintings –\u00a0is representing the waterfall with the same name.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>Marc Nerbonne, Compass<\/em>, 2013, mixed media on panel, 48 x 48 inches. \u00a9 Marc Nerbonne, 2013 Courtesy of O\u2019Born Contemporary<\/span><\/p>\n

The other Keepers<\/em> are on the sad or even scary side. In Compass<\/em> a frightened human figure is hiding behind a Shakespearian figure from the Tempest. Can he give any guidance or will they go down together? This miserable Neptune of our time seems to be as lost as the human. He reminds us of Giuseppe Arcimboldo\u2019s portraits created from fruits and vegetables but while the Renaissance master\u2019s works radiate peace Nerbonne\u2019s are disturbing. The figure is covered with seaweed. One eye is blind and looks like an oyster; the other is filled with dried blood while his headdress is created of fish gasping for air in their agony. As Shakespeare wrote: \u201cFull fathom five thy father lies\/…Those are pearls that were his eyes\/ …But doth suffer a sea change\/ Into something rich and strange.\u201d There is certainly a strong foreboding atmosphere that something strange and bad will happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>Marc Nerbonne, Was It What You Thought It Would Be, <\/em>2013, mixed media on panel,\u00a036 x\u00a036 inches. \u00a9 Marc Nerbonne, 2013 Courtesy of O\u2019Born Contemporary<\/span><\/p>\n

Was It What You Thought It Would Be?<\/em> asks one of the paintings. The sad faced man in front of a ruined, empty landscape is looking inside himself instead of around \u2013 and that seems to give an answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emese Krun\u00e1k-Hajagos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Emese Krun\u00e1k-Hajagos<\/strong><\/p>\n

The images are disturbing, lingering in some limbo between life and death, persuading the viewer to think about the fate of these animals and our role in it.<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emese-krunak-hajagos","category-features","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18395"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18935,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18395\/revisions\/18935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}