I laughed, I cried, I split my side was a group exhibition on the interstices of humor and horror that I curated in 2014 while working as Director of aka artist-run centre in Saskatoon, Canada. The show featured Canadian artists Kyle Beal, Erica Eyres, Christine Negus and Shanell Papp.
When the hero of Witold Gombrowicz's short story, "The Memoirs of Stefan Czarniecki," witnesses his fellow soldier blow up,
waist down, from artillery fire, he simultaneously hears him explode in a hysterical, shrill, yet contagious laugh. It is at this point
the protagonist gives up trying to understand the world, and he initiates on the irrational path of Mystery, embracing the sheer
incomprehensibility of existence itself... Download the essay here.
Photos courtesy of Christine Negus, Shanell Papp and Laura St. Pierre.
Shanell Papp, "The Hunting Party," 2013, Billboard installation
Installation view: Shanell Papp, "Choir/Conductor," Balaclavas, pins, velvet, 2013
Installation view: Shanell Papp, "Choir/Conductor," Balaclavas, pins, velvet, 2013 and Christine Negus, "ugly twins," 2 handmade t-shirts, handmade sparklers, 2 white metal hangers, artificial plants, tinsel, 2013
Installation view: Christine Negus, "Slit me a river," Video, 04:36, 2013, and Kyle Beal, "The Comic, The Critic, The Hack, The Heckler," 60.9 x 76.2cm; 24 x 30in, Ink jet on duratrans mounted to plexi glass, mirror, window tinting, aluminum, 2012, and Kyle Beal, "Last Laff," (wxh) 92.8 x 22.8cm; 36.5 x 9in, Vinyl on plexi, aluminum, LEDs, micro controller, various, 2013
Installation view: Christine Negus, "Slit me a river," Video, 04:36, 2013, and Erica Eyres, "Autobiography," Video, 07:31, 2013, and Erica Eyres, "Autobiography 2," Projection, 09:32, 2013
