Michael Snow doesn’t much care for the cult of personality. When his current exhibition, Recent Snow, opened at the Power Plant last month, a newspaper profile focused more on his sense of humour than it did on his art — Snow was not amused. Yet, after touring the exhibition with the artist yesterday, I admit my sympathies lie with the journalist. Snow is a witty raconteur and that same humour spills from his work, in one case, rather literally. In Serve, Deserve, the image of a place setting is projected onto a small tabletop; food is dropped from above onto the plates, delivered, in a sense, in the beam of light; when the service is complete, the video loop reverses and the meal ascends back to where it came from. Light giveth and light taketh away; Snow chuckles as he relates the concept.
All of the pieces in Recent Snow are projected works: Snow has been a film and video pioneer since the 1950s. “I was lucky enough to get a job doing some animation work early on and that really sparked my interest in film,” he recalls.
In addition to the seven pieces on display at the Power Plant, several of Snow’s other films will be screened in Toronto over the next several weeks (see schedule below), including his groundbreaking 1967 piece, Wavelength. Like so many artifacts of the 20th century, Wavelength can be viewed online but Snow would far prefer you to see it on the big screen where you can experience “the full cinematic effect of the work.”
It’s been 15 years since Snow’s last major exhibition in Toronto and the jet-setting artist is happy to be showcased once again in his hometown. Most of the work at the Power Plant has never been seen here before and two of the pieces — Serve, Deserve and Piano Sculpture — are world premiers.
In Piano Sculpture, a video and sound work that can be heard throughout the exhibition hall, images of Snow mauling a keyboard are projected onto the four walls of the space; at the centre of each image is a speaker from which the sound emanates. A cacophony rises then falls away yet Snow’s hands remain frantic even as the notes diminish; it’s a visual gag that viewers may or may not absorb.
The artist is resigned to the fact that elements of his work will go unappreciated by many visitors to the gallery. In the 1999 work That / Cela / Dat, a barrage of black and white text in three languages relates the fact that most gallery goers pause for just 10 seconds in front of a work before moving on to the next. Snow’s pieces seem calculated to arrest the viewer’s progress, to demand more of our attention.
Solar Breath (Northern Caryatids) is particularly ruminative; the 60-minute, looped film shows a pair of curtained windows, one quite still, the other flapping so violently that the landscape beyond is periodically revealed. But the reveal is not the point: for Snow, the film is about the folds and folding of the drapery as it billows and slaps against the screen. Sitting beside me in the dim gallery, Snow is captivated by these images shot at his Newfoundland cottage. “I’ve only observed this wind phenomenon three or four times in all the years I’ve had the place,” he says. “I feel very lucky to have been able to capture it. I think it’s really very beautiful.”
And so it is, especially if you slow down long enough to really appreciate it.
WHERE/WHEN: Recent Snow: Projected Works by Michael Snow at the Power Plant (231 Queen’s Quay West, 416.973.4949) until March 7, 2010.
International Lecture Series: Michael Snow at the Brigantine Room, Harbourfront Centre, tomorrow (January 27) at 7 pm ($12).
Screening: La Region Centrale at Jackman Hall (371 Dundas Street West), January 28, 7 pm (Free).
Screening: Snows Gone By, Studio Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, February 3, 7 pm ($4).
Wavelength with Elizabeth Legge and Michael Snow at the Drake Hotel Underground, February 18, 7 pm (Free).
New Snow: Premier of Reverberlin (the artist will be present for a post-screening Q&A) at the Power Plant, February 23, 7 pm ($4).
Photos by Christopher Jones
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I’m sorry, but I have to admit that I’m one of those people Snow refers to who don’t appreciate his work.
I just tried watching Wavelength, and grew bored within 5 minutes.
Perhaps this is why one needs Snow there, when viewing his works. Without his fascinating narrative, which allows the viewer to share his views, most people just don’t get it, hence the 10 second attention span.