{"id":28895,"date":"2015-05-31T21:19:15","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T01:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=28895"},"modified":"2015-08-10T19:59:54","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T23:59:54","slug":"the-new-gods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artoronto.ca\/?p=28895","title":{"rendered":"The New Gods"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Artists Alejandro Garcia Contreras and Jos\u00e9e Pedneault\u00a0with The New Gods<\/em> (Christmas Bows). Photo: Katie Lawson<\/p>\n

Typology Projects, a non-profit\u00a0organization on the third floor of Artscape Youngplace, gives home to Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival Featured Exhibition, The New Gods<\/em>. In the light filled room a collection of large scale photographs, porcelain figurines and small paintings are displayed. They emerged\u00a0from a\u00a0collaboration between Montreal based\u00a0photographer Jos\u00e9e Pedneault and Alejandro Garcia Contreras, a Mexican artist. What makes these\u00a0photographs outstanding\u00a0is their theme. They capture a rather unusual interpretation of the Via Crucis, or Stations of the Cross, a religious tradition leading up to Christ’s death on Good Friday. Garcia Contreras discovered this unique and unholy performance in the isolated village of Carrillo Puerto, a small community in the mountains of southern Mexico consisting mostly of farmers. This bizarre and unconventional way of celebration emerged without any kind of external influence, as the tourism, arts and culture industries are nonexistent in the area.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jos\u00e9e Pedneault and Alejandro Garcia Contreras, The New Gods <\/em>series,<\/em> 2013, Archival Inkjet Print, 40″ x 30″. Courtesy of Typology Projects<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jos\u00e9e Pedneault and Alejandro Garcia Contreras, The New Gods <\/em>(Religious Pair in Blue), 2013, Archival Inkjet Print, 40″ x 30″. Courtesy of Typology Projects<\/p>\n

According to Garcia Contreras, this drastic shift from tradition started a few decades ago when one villager decided to present a rather strange costume.\u00a0In the following years, members of the community would attempt to produce and wear more unique costumes in what developed into an informal competition of sorts.\u00a0Throughout the passing years, the elaborate and carnivalesque costumes\u00a0started to reflect the\u00a0changing social realities as well, from the inclusion of satirical political masks to an exterminator costume to call attention to the rise in mosquito-borne diseases. The two artists asked community members wearing those eclectic costumes to step aside from the festivities, then\u00a0staged and photographed them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jos\u00e9e Pedneault and Alejandro Garcia Contreras, The New Gods <\/em>(Newspaper Man), 2013, Archival Inkjet Print, 40″ x 32″. Courtesy of Typology Projects<\/p>\n

Garcia Contreras said that besides the performative value of these costumes he is particularly interested in their psychological projection, as they all express elements of the inner self. While creating a bizarre mixture of local and popular culture with religious beliefs, the costumes\u00a0are simultaneously evoking\u00a0a dissonance between the traditional and the personal interpretation of Stations of the Cross. They all have an individual touch in\u00a0representing the\u00a0designer’s ideas, and\u00a0they are often\u00a0absurd\u00a0or\u00a0funny. The costumes\u00a0also show the community\u2019s resourcefulness with the use of humble or recycled materials. A good example for it the one that has been constructed entirely out of last season\u2019s Christmas bows. An object from a\u00a0recent costume is also displayed in the exhibition – a helmet put together from multi-coloured plastic straws.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jos\u00e9e Pedneault and Alejandro Garcia Contreras, The New Gods<\/em> (Christmas Bows), 2013, Archival Inkjet Print, 40″ x 30″.\u00a0Courtesy of Typology Projects<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jos\u00e9e Pedneault and Alejandro Garcia Contreras, The New Gods <\/em>(Green soldier), 2013, Archival Inkjet Print, 40″ x 32″. Courtesy of Typology Projects<\/p>\n

The disposability of materials used for the costums\u00a0is in direct contrast to the permanence and preciousness of the porcelain figurines crafted by Garcia Contreras. They also make references to the church,\u00a0to patron saint statues or\u00a0to small\u00a0devotional objects.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Alejandro Garcia Contreras, Raising the Cross, 2015, Porcelain and Sculpted Glass, 23 x 16 x 16 cm. Courtesy of Typology Projects<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Installation view with Alejandro Garcia Contreras,\u00a0(left to right): Jack Parsons, King of Rockets 2015; Disney\u2019s Greed, 2015; The Thief, 2013, Porcelain and Sculpted Glass, various sizes. Photo: Katie Lawson<\/p>\n

The two artists\u00a0initially met through a residency of Pedneault in Mexico in 2009. As a cross-cultural collaboration, the work benefits from the different contextualization of the event by Pedneault and Garcia Contreras. Without Garcia Contreras Pedneault wouldn’t have the opportunity to witness this remarkable celebration. Similarly, without Pedneault\u2019s photographic capabilities, who shot all the photographs with a medium format camera, Garcia Contreras wouldn’t\u00a0be able to document this curiosity. The way\u00a0they\u00a0emphasize the unusual materials with their lush textures and depict the figures in front of\u00a0their chosen backgrounds, gives these photographs their artistic strengths. Through Pedneault’s and Garcia Contreras’ work Realism meets Surrealism, producing\u00a0a stunning exhibition.<\/p>\n

Katie Lawson<\/p>\n

*Exhibition information: The New Gods by Alejandro Garcia Contreras and Jos\u00e9e Pedneault<\/em>, May 7 – June 14, 2015, TYPOLOGY Projects,\u00a0Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street #302, Toronto. Gallery hours: Fri – Sun, 12 – 5 pm or by appointment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Katie Lawson<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a cross-cultural collaboration, the work benefits from the different contextualization of the event by Pedneault and Garcia Contreras.<\/p>\n

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