Sexy states

>> Divers/Cité pride continues at art show

by KEITH MARCHAND

Don't mothball that assless, leather policeman's uniform just yet: the spirit of Divers/Cité continues for another couple of weeks. États des Sexes is an exhibition that has been mounted in conjunction with the pride celebration. Comprising seven artists, the show, not altogether surprisingly, raises issues surrounding sexuality, sensuality and gender in art production and cultural dissemination. Works by Neil MacInnis, Marie-Claude Pratte, Zilon, Harlan Johnson, Sylvie Cotton, Fabienne Lasserre and Martial are featured in the show.

Neil MacInnis offers a simple yet rather thought-provoking piece with one heck of a title. Pageantry and Contempt: Interpolating the Decorative Impulse Between Sodomy and Textiles examines the strange events and subsequent fallout surrounding Gianni Versace's shooting by Andrew Cunanan. A text, written by Gary Indiana, called "Three Month Fever: The Andrew Cunanan Story," accompanies MacInnis's main work. Made to look like a large, typically overwrought silk Versace scarf, the work incorporates Versace's unmistakable design style to explore the twisted yet imperishable bond Cunanan and Versace will always share. Rococo and classical motifs have been subverted to include pistols, photographs and phalluses. Indiana's piece talks about the complicity of the gay community and the press who worked (perhaps unwittingly) together to create "a homosexual golem" out of Cunanan to absorb public fears about homosexuality.

Once again, Marie-Claude Pratte demonstrates that she has no fear of painting. Le Sexe des États is typical of Pratte's style in that paint is used without any concern for seamless presentation, and there is a tangible nod toward comic-book art. With a tank plowing through the centre of the canvas crushing a pile of books, a battered female character looks on--like Delacroix's Lady Liberty, but damaged, naked and in a strange, bleak world. A sprightly fetal character does a wee jig in a winter hat and another chubby little fetus plays the bugle. Strange stuff, but certainly emotive and entertaining.

Sylvie Cotton's Devorer uses nothing more elaborate than a black curtain, some spooky lighting, a sinister soundtrack and a passageway. Cotton forces the viewer into the claustrophobic matrix of her work, and the constant, undulating sibilance of a fire/backdraft forms an uncomfortable soundscape. A diminutive, snarling wolf's head lurks in wait at the end of the passage. Cotton taps the unease one feels when confronted with something that has an apparent but indecipherable purpose.

États des Sexes runs until August 15 at MAI, 3680 Jeanne Mance #103