Diabolique: Part 1

Dunlop Art Gallery

Central Gallery, 2311 - 12th Avenue, Regina

Diabolique: Part 1

Part 1: July 17 to August 30, 2009

Part 1: Opening Reception, Friday, July 17, 7:30 pm

Artists’ talks, Saturday, July 18, 2:00 pm

Curator’s talk, Saturday, July 25, 2:00 pm

Diabolique brings to the forefront very intense concerns regarding the impact of violence, war, and human conflict. The exhibition is an electric mix of dark scenes and narratives evocative of disturbing, puzzling, grotesque and surreal qualities. The exhibition is in two parts. Part II will run from September 4 to October 18, 2009.

Curated by Amanda Cachia, there are 22 international and Canadian artists in this exhibition, including Bogdan Achimescu, Matilda Aslizadeh, Rebecca Belmore, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Dana Claxton, Douglas Coupland, Jeremy Deller, Mario Doucette, David Garneau, William Kentridge, Fawad Khan, Wanda Koop, Emanuel Licha, Shirin Neshat, Dan Perjovschi, Michael Patterson-Carver, Raymond Pettibon, Nancy Spero, Althea Thauberger, Jason Thiry, Scott Waters and Balint Zsako.

The title of the exhibition is inspired by Les Diaboliques (1954), a black-and-white French terror classic film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. The title in English translates as ‘The Devils’. Diabolique is also the French word for ‘diabolic’ or ‘diabolical’. Artworks range from a charcoal drawing anamorphic animation to a site-specific image of a car bomb exploding on the gallery wall to cartoon and graffiti-style social and political commentary on the east glass exterior of Central Library. The artwork is scattered across the library interior and exterior loud and clear, for all to see from far and wide, to challenge our positions and push buttons.

The art work in this exhibition possess tangible and intangible qualities of anxiety, hope and struggle, relationships of power and authority, universal dichotomies of good versus evil, the position of minority groups such as women and children within war and violent contexts, sublime truths within harsh realities, contemporary and modern renderings of historical events, witty political one-liners attacking the Bush administration and much more.

Diabolique strives to provide audiences with a large arena, in two ‘exhibition chapters’, in which to contemplate social and political issues stemming from Italy, Romania, Africa and the rest of the world. We can consider an artists’ interpretation of war in the broadest possible sense. These artists are telling us what is at stake and they are challenging us to look beyond what is on the surface. The artists are presenting art for our time, exploring very critical, timely and complex issues in a refreshing manner, providing a glimmer of hope and an opportunity for questioning and reevaluation. Like Picasso’s Guernica, 1937, each image has the ability to imprint.

Accompanied by full colour catalogue in English and French, with essays by Dick Averns, Amanda Cachia, Randal Rogers and Sunera Thobani, edited by Marie Lovrod.

Diabolique will tour to Galerie de l’UQAM in Montreal in 2010 and the Military Museums Art Gallery in Calgary in 2011.