Diabolique | Part One

Artists: Jake & Dinos Chapman, Douglas Coupland, Dana Claxton, William Kentridge, Fawad Khan, Shirin Neshat, Michael Patterson-Carver, Raymond Pettibon,Nancy Spero, Scott Waters and Balint Zsako

March 26 - June 4, 2010

College Art Gallery 2 

Diabolique | Part Two

Artists: Matilda Aslizadeh, Rebecca Belmore, Mario Doucette, David Garneau, Wanda Koop, Emanuel Licha, Althea Thauberger, Jason Thiry and Scott Waters

 June 18 - August 14, 2010

College Art Gallery 2

Diabolique cuts a map of blood across white walls and raises intense concerns regarding the impact of violence, war and human conflict. The exhibition is an electric mix of social and political statements, evocative scenes and narratives that pose disturbing, puzzling, grotesque and surreal questions about human capacities for violence.

The title of the exhibition is partially inspired by Les Diaboliques (1954), a black-and-white French classic terror film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Artworks range from a charcoal drawing anamorphic animation to an exploding car bomb drawing, to a powerpoint slideshow of cartoon and graffiti-style social and political commentary from a notebook that was originally recorded on the east glass window exterior of Regina Public Library Central Branch in 2009. This artwork challenges our positions and pushes buttons.

There are 19 international and Canadian artists in this exhibition, including Matilda Aslizadeh, Rebecca Belmore, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Dana Claxton, Douglas Coupland, Mario Doucette, David Garneau, Fawad Khan, William Kentridge, Wanda Koop, Shirin Neshat, Dan Perjovschi, Michael Patterson-Carver, Raymond Pettibon, Nancy Spero, Althea Thauberger, Jason Thiry, Scott Waters and Balint Zsako.

Tangible and intangible elements of anxiety, hope and struggle, power and authority, projections of good, evil, banalities and birthrights, processes of minoritization, sublime truths within harsh realities, contemporary and modern renderings of historical events, witty political one-liners attacking the Bush administration and much more are all juxtaposed in this challenging exhibit. 

Diabolique strives to provide audiences with a large arena that provides viewers with the opportunity to contemplate social and political crises stemming from Saskatchewan, Canada, Italy, Romania, Africa and the rest of the world. These artists share their visions of what is at stake in human violence and demand that viewers look beyond the surface sensationalism of conflict to confront how invested any one can become in winning at all costs.  This work invites consideration of the palimpsested history of human violence, the ways it breaks boundaries and intrudes.

The artists in Diabolique appeal to more than our senses. Some of them are political activists. Others are engrossed by nightmarish experiences, terror and horror, weapons and toys. Still others wish to illuminate the mistakes of the past and chart their relevance today. Perhaps the contemporary art in Diabolique reveals symbolic wars of struggle, play and festival – battles that both sunder and bring people together. Like the poetry of Aime Cesaire, these visual works embody and illuminate blood, pain, fury, rage, destruction, protest and outcry.[1] They are also talismans, memorials and shrines. Lest we forget.

Amanda Cachia

Director/Curator

Dunlop Art Gallery

Diabolique is organized by the Dunlop Art Gallery with the financial assistance of the Regina Public Library, The Canada Council for the Arts and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.

[1] Sunera Thobani, War Frenzy, Centre for Research on Globalization, 28 October 2001