Matea Radic

Drawing in Winnipeg remains a viable contender. Its validity, health and propensity to resurrection seem less debated here than other topics that swirl in and out of the ‘art zeitgeist.’ Perhaps this is related to popular strains in its history. The Royal Art Lodge, synonymous with a collaborative artistic moment in Winnipeg in the mid 1990s, successfully permeated beyond the Prairies with members such as Marcel Dzama and Jonathan Pylypchuk, who are now represented by galleries on both US art world coasts. While the artists from this lineage have matured in a sense—to what degree, remains a playful debate—their legacy of fanciful characters and mysterious creatures surfaces in murmurs of influence. This legacy is not one that overshadows emerging artists and practices but rather one that offers a peek into origins, networks and artistic practice in Winnipeg. Drawing has consistently been a component of group exhibitions in artist run centres, renegade spaces promoted through word of mouth, or nestled between handmade soaps and upcycled jewellery in pop-up shops around the city. However, it is nice to see artwork in a commercial space completely given over to one artist.

Lantern gallery, run by co-owners and artists Perry Thompson and Paul Zacharias, is new to Winnipeg’s suddenly burgeoning commercial gallery scene that includes the recently revamped ACTUAL Contemporary and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects, showing art by mid-career and emerging artists. While this influx of new galleries remains to be proven sustainable, Lantern’s model of a seasonal space (fall through spring) is a fitting respite for the cabin fever that grips the inhabitants of an inordinately long algid clime. Its space in Chinatown is also not without history. The storefront was previously home to Zsa Zsa West and Golden City Fine Art, galleries that established “a do it yourself party vibe” in the words of Zacharias. Matea Radic’s opening indeed had a catch-all spirit with artists, collectors, students and other curious parties stopping in to see the buzz of people and works in the exhibition. Not bad for an area that some would sidestep.

Radic’s presentation of more than 30 works on paper, beastly soft sculpture (resembling a whimsical yet slightly satanic piñata in its position overhead) and two delightful animations bookending the length of the gallery was a cohesive installation for the young artist. Described as the “Wild” series by Radic, there is an abundance of nude female figures frolicking among fox-like creatures in poses with various twists, splayed limbs and entwined bodies signalling a play on the beast within. Radic’s women have full thighs and ample bottoms and seem at home in minimally lined landscapes that allude to untamed pastures, hinted at with an odd moon or thin tree. The drawings are instantly likeable in scale and subject matter displaying a commercial whimsy that would not be out of place on a tote bag or Crate and Barrel serving tray. The titles also point to an illustrative flourish with phrases such as The feeling between her fingers was the same feeling between her legs and Lady and her beast friend. One wall displays a number of drawings incorporating a restrained touch of watercolour. The collection of four Hairy Friendships shows Radic’s fuzzed female figures wide-eyed and pink-nippled, one might guess the offspring of the aforementioned beastly rendezvous.

The untitled animations are the newest iteration of Radic’s humorous view of the beast within. One figure self-harms by repeatedly poking its eye, instigating a satisfying slight twitch in one of its legs. The other figure self-soothes, caressing its upper body in a steady rhythm of tragic comfort. Radic states the animations take the drawings in a new direction, and they are the most promising element of development in her work if her intention is to expand her characters and their mythology beyond charming illustration. For the moment though, these fresh, young, wild women are a welcome sight at the start of spring. ❚

“Wild” was on exhibition at Lantern Gallery, Winnipeg, from March 6 to March 27, 2015.

Courtney R Thompson is an arts writer living in Winnipeg.