photo by César Ochoa: Studio 303 / Out Productions
ART FAG
Montreal's own Factory Project gives a nod to Warhol,
but is ready to turn a few new tricks too
by Brett Hooton
(originally published in Montreal's THE HOUR, September 11, 2008)
Steve Gin's connection to Andy Warhol extends far beyond their shared shoe fetish. As the Calgary-based actor researched the pop artist's life, he "kept finding all these funny little intersections." Like Warhol, he possessed his own obsession with celebrity footwear, he collected splashy Fiestaware, and most importantly he related to the artist's experiences as a gay man.
Even
as a child, Gin felt intimately connected to Warhol and his work. "My
grandmother had ties to a lot of California celebrities," he says, "and I
remember perusing her magazines and seeing photographs and being aware that
there was something arty about Campbell's soup cans and Marilyn Monroe and such.
And I remember as a teenager being really aware of Studio 54 and Warhol's
influence on queer identity."
A few years ago, a traveling exhibition from the Museum of Modern Art gave Gin the opportunity to actually become his idol. He started to develop an imitation piece that eventually became 8 Portraits of Andy Warhol, which he will perform in Montreal as part of the Factory Project. Drawing on Warhol's paintings, films and writings, as well as interviews and his personal responses to the artist's role in gay culture, Gin morphs his way through various stages of Warhol's life, ultimately transforming into the artist at the end of his solo performance.
Gin is just one of more than a dozen artists from across Canada who will take over an enormous, 5,000-square-foot loft in Little Italy starting on Sept. 20. Inspired by Warhol's Silver Factory (also known simply as "The Factory"), the Factory Project seeks to recreate the legendary space with a contemporary flair.
Although
his specific role had not yet been finalized at press time, Gin admits he will
have big, if very stylish, sneakers to fill as the original host-with-the-most.
"All I know is that I'll be doing my piece and floating around as Warhol," he
explains, a mix of excitement and trepidation in his voice. "Hopefully, I can
facilitate and be a bit of an imp and a troublemaker as Andy would. I think that
really was his role in art history too, to be a bit of a trickster and to turn
things upside down."
David Allan King of Out Productions and Miriam Ginestier of Studio 303 serve as co-curators of the exhibition. Combining their talents in the areas of queer and cutting-edge creativity, the pair agrees the time has come to focus new attention on the fuzzy line between artistic products and consumers. "What interests me in the original Factory was the mixing of leisure, pleasure and art," says Ginestier. "It's just something that's always interested me, and I think it's important to our generation of art-goers as well. I think it makes it more fun and it breaks that fourth wall, and they can become more a part of it."
From
Sherwin Tjia's virtual, non-violent tour of Grand Theft Auto IV to Roxy's
Rockband extravaganza, the diverse artists and performers will be united by
their search for what constitutes art in a culture defined by shorter and
shorter attention spans. Contributors like Montreal's Gray Fraser, who will turn
visitors into the new Elvis or Mick Jagger by producing their portraits in a
matter of minutes, will blend beauty and mass production. At the same time,
Edmonton's Beau Coleman and Mieko Ouchi (in photo, right) will explore art as a
status symbol in "the city's most exclusive hot spot," their installation
fifteen.
"What I like about the new generation is that young artists are inherently interdisciplinary," says Ginestier. "In a very genuine way, they're not thinking about it, they just are. The Factory had nothing to do with discipline. It was about the underground, the marginal, the queer."
An important
undercurrent of the event will be Warhol's influence on gay culture. The artist
was one of the first to celebrate queer art as a distinct genre, and many of the
contributors will undress the topic in their pieces. Gin confirms that sexuality
will be in the foreground of his performance, with the goal of introducing this
aspect of Warhol's message to a larger audience: "Andy Warhol's work was so much
about queer identity, and I don't think that often comes out in a lot of
dissertations about him."
The original Silver Factory received its unusual moniker as a result of Warhol's unique decorative tastes. At Warhol's request, photographer Billy Name covered his New York studio in tin foil and silver paint, and the pop artist kept the ceiling cluttered with metallic-coloured balloons. In the same spirit, the Factory Project's location will form a work of art in and of itself, with designer Hubert Soucy, who works with antique and found objects, creating the lounge space where patrons can mingle before exploring the installations.
The idea, Ginestier says, is to shine a light on the frenetic loft culture that existed in Montreal during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and which has experienced a modest revival in recent years. Along the way, she believes the viewers will gain a valuable new perspective on their relationship to art. "It changes the process of producing in a big way because it's kind of scary territory," Ginestier explains of the project's structure - or lack thereof. "I'm in a panic right now. I don't want audiences to enter and feel overwhelmed and have no idea what to do. So for sure it's scary, but it's also fun. I just hope people love it and find it inspiring."
If
there is anywhere that Warhol's spirit will be felt, it's in the bacchanal
revelry of the event. Opening and closing nights, Sept. 20 and 27, will feature
decadent post-show parties. The original Silver Factory was infamous for sex,
drugs and music - all of which Warhol enthusiastically encouraged. While the
organizers of the Factory Project (and probably all of Little Italy) hope that
their version remains slightly tamer, shenanigans are sure to ensue as a result
of cabaret performances, video games, karaoke, makeovers and countless others
surprises. Be sure to visit
www.factoryproject.ca for all
the dirt.
Ultimately, the Factory Project, like Warhol's original experiment, seeks to inspire a serious rethinking about art and society without defining the structure or restrictions of the discussion. For Gin, the idea is simple. "I hope that [audiences] take away an understanding of how influential that period of time was in terms of art history and film history and the last century. But mostly I just hope they have a bloody good time."
Web reference: http://www.hour.ca/stage/stage.aspx?iIDArticle=15500