“All the Names” exhibition at Scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto, will feature works by Helen Barff, Ivana Bašić, Walead Beshty, Christian Boltanski, Tracey Emin, Aiko Hachisuka, Liz Magor, Iris Häussler, Annette Messager, and Shinique Smith.“All the Names,” the title of this exhibition is lifted directly from Portuguese author and Noble Prize Winner José Saramago’s 1997 novel of the same name. While the novel introduces the reader to an ensemble of characters, none are referred to by their name, nor are they described in any way that the viewer might come to know how the author physically imagined them. The only clearly identified person is Saramago’s protagonist, Senhor José (Mister José), who bears the same first name as his creator, which, in Portuguese culture, is one of the most common names given to boys.Annette Messager explains that when she sets out to create work, she begins not with a particular form or color, “but always from a word.” Words are essential to Messager’s production because they are units within a system that can be toyed with — rearranged and twisted — which gain meanings and counter-meanings.Walead Beshty has been working on his “FedEx Sculptures” since 2005 in which shatterproof glass boxes are shipped to various destinations in standard FedEx containers — the works’ final presence is decided by the harm accrued during travel.Iris Häussler’s is showcasing “Sie und Sie,” which is a work in which the ideas being interrogated are imbedded both literally and figuratively in the processes and consequences of the object’s physical realization. Comprising pieces of clothing submerged in beeswax — a result of the heated liquid being poured into a wooden mold, clothes being added and then manipulated by hand in an act of what the artist has called “blind painting,”This exhibition runs through March 10, 2018, at Scrap Metal, 11 Dublin Street, Unit E, Toronto, Ontario M6H 1J4.For details, visit: www.scrapmetalgallery.comClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.
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