FLESH AND BLOOD AT GALERIE UQAM

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Award-winning artist Shary Boyle shows creates art out of pretty porcelain, bringing to mind the tchotkes people have in their homes – the Lladro and Royal Doulton china pieces so loved by collectors – yet the subject matter is troubling…

Poetically, Boyle re-fashions our dreams and our fears. The pieces are graceful, even lovely. But they are certainly strange. We are drawn in to peer closely at her fantastical figures, which combine archetypes of ancient myths, children’s literature and the commonplace.

“Melancholy, mortality, sexuality, family. I’m dealing with these essential themes that were, at one point, really valued in image-making in the culture,” says the self-taught, 38-year old Boyle.

Her bold fantastical pieces are deeply imaginative. They relate a narrative fantasy from her imagination, combining myths, 17^th century Italian bronzes and open sensuality in her quirky, dream-like pieces. Somehow the porcelain makes the work commonplace – and soothes the sensationalism. But the inherent issues of femininity, sexuality, family and contemporary culture lie beneath the surface, waiting for the viewer to discover. Her commitment to the absurd makes her works wondrous. They are precious – and precocious. Interestingly in a world of Art Inc., where assistant workers à la Warhol Factory finish pieces for artist / Art CEOs such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst, Shary Boyle hand- finishes each work herself, making her works a beautiful blend of craft and art.

The UQAM show is a project produced and circulated by the Galerie de l’UQAM, and curated by Louise Déry. It is Boyle’s first solo show.

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DETAILS

Galerie de UQAM

Judith-Jasmin Pavilion, Room J-R120

1400 Berri

Tuesday – Saturday Noon – 6 p.m.

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