Presented by: Not Available
A wildly provocative visual ode to the split female psyche; the narcissistic object of another's gaze and the lustful protagonist who seeks out her own desires.
“The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, is, What does a woman want?” (Sigmund Freud)
Daniel Bergner initiated a tidal of controversy in his recent editorial for New York Times Magazine, What do Women Want? (Jan, 2009). In it, Bergner first introduced Dr. Meredith Chivers, the Queen's University psychology professor who is shaping sexual research worldwide with her experiments in physiological and intellectual responses to visual stimuli. Chivers ultimately quotes a disconnection between the female body and mind as the primary factor that makes female desire so challenging to understand.
What Women Want is a wildly provocative visual ode to this split female psyche; the narcissistic object of anothers gaze and the lustful protagonist who seeks out her own desires.
The contributing artists, in various stages of their photographic practices, produce the kind of content that directly or indirectly explores the question of what women want, uncovering more questions then they answer in the process. Like, why do body and mind seem to work independently of each other? How does photography capture that between male and female photographers? And how does visual stimulus play a part in desire?
What Women Want features Noah Kalina (NYC) who first exploded across the blogosphere when he introduced his Everyday series, making him into "that YouTube guy". He now intersperses his self-reflective images of fleeting youth, time and space with commercial work for Rolling Stone, Seed, ID, Interview Magazine and Esquire; Yuri Dojc (Toronto) The master eroticist who's work has elevated him to be one of the best nude photographers of the world along side Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe and Bill Brandt; Diana Sheunemann (Germany) who's spontaneous style generates an unusually idyllic view, which demonstrates her skill and experience in the flawless world of fashion photography; the equally fashion-informed Geoffrey Knott (Toronto) who doesn't let anything - much less a camera lens - get between him and his muse du jour. Geoffrey's knock-you-flat energy translates perfectly to unite his subjects, images and audience; the young, but oft celebrated Leanne Eisen (Toronto) who has exhibited at Toronto's Pikto Gallery and 401 Richmond during Nuit Blanche and most recently won Best Still Life/Abstract at SNAP!09; Talia Shipman (Toronto) who's whimsical, stylized maturity has landed her work in publications and galleries worldwide and on Canadian Art Magazine's list of Toronto’s artists to watch; and Dan Anaka (Toronto) the master of conveying the beauty of women emotionally, spiritually and physically who's influence comes from his equally remarkable figurative and portraiture paintings.
Starts: Apr 2, 2009 Ends: May 11, 2009
At: Dessinee Gallery, 2470 Yonge Street, Toronto
Playing: Saturday
Friday
Thursday
Wednesday
Tuesday
Monday
Times: 12 - 7 pm
Cost: Free
Getting there:
Two blocks North of Eglinton subway station and on the West side of the street.
For more information contact:
Alana Armstrong
Phone:
416 483 9488
Email:
alana@dessineeart.com
