An exhibition called The Special Special
This week, Zavitz Gallery and Project Space (Alexander 365) feature The Special Special, an exhibition of works by students in the fourth-year Specialized Studio class. It opened on Nov. 24, and runs until Nov. 28. I wandered through Zavitz Gallery with Rachel Wallace, a Philosophy major in her final year, talking about the work. This is a selection from our conversation:
Rachel: It’s a group show, so it’s hard to make things hang together, but I like the way they’ve arranged it. There are these different zones, sort of like when you go to a big gallery and there are all these different rooms. But even with all these different things, it doesn’t feel incoherent. I’m just really curious about everything. I want to hear the stories. It seems like a good sort of space for coming up with stories. I could just sprawl out on the floor and be like, “What’s going on here?”
Will: What’s going on in this piece?
Rachel: There’s just so much going on. At first, I glossed over the objects. I think the lipstick really had me feeling, “oh, these are just objects that people would have lying around.” But they’re all just the tiniest bit old, like batteries and cassette tapes. I recognize them from my childhood. I’ve used them substantially, but they’re not something I use in my everyday life.
Will: You have some things that look quite old. I guess you might say that they take part in a standard vocabulary of age. But then there are other things, like the lipstick, which look very contemporary but just a little bit off.
Rachel: It reminds me a bit of when, as a kid, I would find a junk drawer in my grandparents house. You would look at some things and think, “Oh, this has no bearing on my life,” and you’d look at other things and go, “Oh my goodness, this is such a treasure. How could anyone pass over this? Why is this thing hiding in a drawer?” Just the colour of something, or that it was a shape you’d never seen before. It makes me wonder what features of these objects were picked up on and how the arrangement is drawing them out in ways that I might not be realizing right now.
