Sunday, July 10, 2011

Another Reason Why Canada Is Wicked Awesome

The table hockey game.



This image and the ones that follow were created by Canadian artist Diana Thornycroft. Thanks to Debra for giving me this additional information and setting me on a search for more of the artist's work. Here is what the artist said about this series that she did. The 'Group of Seven' are among our most famous artists. They produced a huge body of work highlighting Canadian landscapes and formed the basis for Diana's work.

"In this new series "Group of Seven Awkward Moments", I investigate the relationship between the Canadian landscape and national identity. Reproductions of paintings by the famous Canadian collective The Group of Seven are used as backdrops to the dioramas I photograph.

It is through the use of the collective's iconic northern landscapes, which have come to symbolize Canada as a nation, combined with scenes of accidents, disasters, and bad weather that gives the work its edge. By pairing the tranquility of traditional landscape painting with black humour, the work conjures up topical and universally familiar landscapes fraught with anxiety and contradictions"


















http://dianathorneycroft.com/

10 comments:

Professor Chaos said...

Goddammit, Canada! Quit being cooler than us!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

That wouldn't happen to be art by Diana Thornycroft of Winnioeg, would it? She's done a whole series of "iconic" Canadiana scenes.

DEZMOND said...

what is so awesome in not letting bears and deer play hockey too? :PP

csmith2884 said...

Everybody is cooler than us. BoooHoo

Kal said...

Dez - you are a foreigner so you have no idea why we don't let bears and deer play hockey against each other. Last time we did things didn't turn out so good. Don't ask. We don't like to talk about it...even amongst ourselves.

I have to check out that artist if this image was created by her, Deb. I found it as an uncredited Tumblre image.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I suspected it was her! Diana Thorneycroft always pushes the boundaries with her photography. At the moment, she's using a humorous approach to Canadian iconography, but in the past she's done very serious stuff involving bondage and another series with ritualized rabbit corpses. The dead rabbits had Winnipeg in an absolute uproar about 10-12 years ago.

Kal said...

I am diggin' that she is controversial. I like that edge.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

See Canada by Train, its what all the pretty girls are doing:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroarama/5923924629/

LaurieB said...

Those are AWESOME! Totally homesick now too.

Kal said...

Eric - the fact that this fine wholesome Canadian girl is pretty is coincidental. She has every reason to be excited. She has a phone in her room for one.