{"id":39457,"date":"2017-11-16T17:32:22","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T22:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=39457"},"modified":"2017-11-16T19:18:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T00:18:59","slug":"joe-fleming-the-escape-club-at-general-hardware-contemporary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=39457","title":{"rendered":"Joe Fleming: The Escape Club at General Hardware Contemporary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Fleming\u2019s The Escape Club<\/em>\u00a0 exhibition at General Hardware Contemporary delivers \u00a0its \u201cPop\u201d aesthetic mainly through appropriated fragments of black and white figures Walt Disney-fashion. These cropped slices might be of Mickey Mouse. It was hard to tell. His \u201cSynch\u201d piece seemed to show a belt or scarf being knotted at the waist of a jacket. It brought to mind Mickey\u2019s role as \u201cThe Sorcerer\u2019s Apprentice,\u201d though the cloak didn\u2019t match, something which a bit of research revealed. Just the same, in Fleming\u2019s work, this \u201csynching,\u201d or tying elements together did the trick, reference or no reference.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Joe Fleming, Synch, 2017, enamel on polycarbonate and aluminum, 34″ x 39″. Courtesy GHC<\/p>\n

I wanted to believe that the show\u2019s title,\u00a0The Escape Club<\/em>, might have a direct tie to fantasy in the Disney sense, serving as an invitation to go on some magical tour of, say, a Fleming Fantasia. The polycarbonate supports with their rivets and aluminum supports, however, brought it all down to earth abruptly. These washed-over, scuffed objects might have been the found left-overs of a storefront make-over.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Joe Fleming, Float On, 2017, enamel and collage on polycarbonate, 24″ x 22.5″. Courtesy GHC<\/p>\n

To be sure, Fleming\u2019s \u201cperformative\u201d paintings are vehicles, not only the evidenced vestiges of his own creative output, but works that are skilfully executed to boot. The artist always has been firmly in the driver\u2019s seat when it comes to paint-handling. To Fleming, slicing through patches of sloppy washes are not a problem. The tight, black ribbon curves of a cartoon drapery fold are negotiated in silky smooth strokes. This deft juggling of image, paint, and support aid in an easy glide from wall to viewer. Each work seems to waft or float, hovering momentarily at the point of retinal ingestion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Joe Fleming, Scratched, 2017, mixed media, 40″ x 28″.\u00a0Courtesy of\u00a0GHC<\/p>\n

If all this signifies a fragmented, Humpty-Dumpty world, it\u2019s not Fleming\u2019s fault, surely. The artist is merely playing back judiciously assembled clips from a swirling media stream, over-saturated and achingly bereft of coherence. Small wonder that the exhibition title seems to be an invitation to join this Escape Club<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Joe Fleming, There Goes the Neighbourhood, 2017, enamel on polycarbonate and aluminum, 36″ x 76″.\u00a0Courtesy of GHC<\/p>\n

Steve Rockwell<\/p>\n

*Exhibition information: October 12 – November 18, 2017,\u00a0General Hardware Contemporary,\u00a01520 Queen Street West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed \u2013 Sat, 12 \u2013 6 pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Steve Rockwell<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wanted to believe that the show\u2019s title,\u00a0The Escape Club, might have a direct tie to fantasy in the Disney sense, serving as an invitation to go on some magical tour of, say, a Fleming Fantasia.<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-steve-rockwell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39457","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=39457"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39494,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39457\/revisions\/39494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}