21 June—28 July 2007

Seducing Down the Door

Please join us on Thursday June 21st at 8pm for the opening reception of Seducing Down The Door, an exhibition featuring new works by Toronto artists Dean Baldwin, Anitra Hamilton and Corwyn Lund. Here their distinct practices subtlety intersect and overlap, particularly through the use of colour, form, charm and play, which serve as a veneer to mask the somewhat more sinister subject matter of their investigations.

Anitra Hamilton’s Beater, is a defunct automobile covered in colourful tissue-paper pom-poms and converted into a festive piñata – complete with nacho chips, salsa and tequila- which blindfolded participants are invited to smash with sledgehammers.*

Corwyn Lund’s new photo series and floral installation responds to the found sculptural form of microphone clusters at press conferences, recognizing these events as temporary venues of memorial and collective loss.

Dean Baldwin has constructed a fully stocked mini-bar in the back gallery, from which he will serve tiny cocktails, in a welcoming but somewhat claustrophobic Alice in Wonderland environment.

On June Wednesday 27th at 8pm, Beater temporary leaves the exhibition space and is presented in the courtyard of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (952 Queen St West) where it will be hoisted into the air by crane. Please note: this event is not intended for children.

Beater (2007), in action at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art.

Information

Dean Baldwin was born in the year of the bull in Orangeville, Ontario, and is based in Toronto. Recent projects include a commissioned signature cocktail for artist-run centre YYZ called the The Why Why Cocktail, Run the ROM with The Movement Movement and The Cooked Book, an eight channel video installation at Harbourfront Centre as a part of the Images festival. He is represented by Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects. Baldwin likes a nice Brandy Alexander on a cool winter’s night.


Anitra Hamilton is a Toronto/Berlin based artist. Her work has been shown here and abroad, most recently in a retrospective at the AGYU. Her project Parade is in the permanent collection of the Albright-Knox Gallery. She has up-coming projects in Shanghai, Berlin and Mexico. Anitra is the operator of Satchel Gallery, a mobile gallery that takes place in her shoulder bag.


Corwyn Lund relocated to Toronto in 2000 following studies in art, architecture, and furniture design. His work in sculpture, installation, photography, and video focuses on the critical interpretation and construction of space and everyday objects. In the past installations such as Swingsite (2003-06 RIP), Parlour of Twilight (Gladstone Hotel Room 405), and MusicBox RevolvingDoor (Kitchener City Hall) featured overlooked architectural details that were transformed into experiential works of public art. His work has shown internationally in Basel, Havana, Chicago and Munich, and is held by the Library and Archives Collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

Mercer Union gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.