Page 92 - The MoMA/ Guggenheim issue of World of Art magazine (2001)

VERNISSAGE by Tamara Pasztor

REVIEW OF EXHIBITIONS

PHOTO CREDIT Anton Vassiliev

A sEARCH fOR THE mIssING be futile. At last, their patience had vanished VIRUs ATTACK
MI MAkIR and they began to beat the fruit with large ROMAN MILO
JUSTINA M.BARNICkE GALLERY sticks. In this way, silks and silkworms were ANGELL GALLERY
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO found. The hard white fruit? It is a cocoon! TORONTO, CANADA
TORONTO, CANADA Artist J.J.lee has concentrated his display “For me, the virus finally became a kind of
Blanketed across the walls are the shadowy upon the Spadina area of Chinatown, digital Rosetta Stone that held the secrets
visages of the Holocaust victims whose Toronto. The silken material is Canadian of its visual-self. When I decoded the images
unframed portraits bear the actual numbers produced for the local Chinese market. visual DNA, and began toPaint on my
of the deceased. from the Ancient historical significance and the computer, I knew that I had won.”
abysmal blackened spaces, contemporary era are interlinked within the (Roman Milo)
almost-skeletal features silk brocade. Each work of art transmits an four years ago, the Trojan Horse Virus
contort in silent screams abysmal message of aspiration, traditional digitally terminated Roman Milo’s computer
and stare back in agony. craft, erudition, and cultural identity. with a single e-mail. A hodgepodge of
Complied by the Nazis’ TECHNOLOGY ANd ART destructive letters, shapes, and symbols
during World War II, the ANTON VASSILIEV surfaced upon his screen. To Milo,
lists were sent to artist the figures transmitted a hieroglyphic
Yehouda Chaki on behalf of Born in Moscow, Russia Anton Vassiliev visual jargon of latin, Cyrillic, Greek,
the Holocaust Museum in attended the University of Moscow and and Phoenician
VIEW Of THE BOOK thence, relocated to Canada in 1995.
INSTAllATION Washington, D.C texts. Mathematical
“I discovered the Nazi lists He had obtained his BA Honours C&O associations,
of numbers with the person (Combinatorics and Optimization) at the astronomical iconography,
each number corresponded to with their University of Waterloo. At present, Anton traffic jams, and reclining
name, date of birth, and place of origin. And is a part-time freelance Photographer and nudes metamorphosized
not just Jews, of course. There are Gypsies, Computer Software Developer. He has before his eyes.
Christian Germans, and others. So the worked on numerous assignments for the Thenceforth, Roman
numbers I put on my images each correspond last two years with freelance Writer, Tamara Milo caught the images
to the face I created from a real person. Pasztor. with his digital camera.
Although the face remains unclear because My general opinion about the multi-faceted The photographs were VIRUS 5
that’s the way I see it, still the number sees it discipline of fine Arts is mostly founded uploaded through the DIGITAl PRINT
40” x 52” (101.6 CM x 132 CM)
as a specific person. That brings it into more upon a systematic body of knowledge in Internet to an fTP site, KODAK PROfESSIONAl COlOUR
Contemporary ideas within art, and I like which computer technology, including the downloaded, and printed METAllIC PAPER
that…” invention of Internet, permits the artists to on an experimental film,
(Yehouda Chaki) bequeathed by Kodak. Afterwards, the Trojan
At first glance, the sculptural heap of Horse imagery was processed by Canada’s
books integrated within the installation BGM.
is reminiscent of the notorious book Six diptychs (40” tall x 52” wide) and one
burnings, for instance, Kristallnacht. triptych (40” tall x 78” wide) are displayed
Newspaper clippings, plastic toys, and within three-dimensional glass cases. Odd,
icons are glued to the texts. Social culture, how a malignant technical contagion can
history, and heightened human torment evince optical depth and be considered
are forever stamped upon these objects. decorative!
Eight days prior to the opening of Virus
RIPE Attack, Roman instigated a surreptitious art
J.J.LEE crusade that stressed “virulent assaults”
ANGELL GALLERY PORTRAIT upon defenseless edifices. Scrawled in
TORONTO, CANADA SEPIA PHOTOGRAPHY seek fresh horizons and non-toxic washable liquid tempera chalk
The creation of silk dates back to the 30th 2001 filter through information sidewalks were defaced with graffiti icons
ANTON VASSIlIEV
Century B.C. at the time of Huang Di (The at a rapid pace. (Trojan Horse Virus?). Printed textiles, a
Yellow Emperor) in China. There are two Art historically, a photographer whether website that featured the virus attack, and
versions of the silk legend of the highest calibre or amateur, per se in a documentary of the secretive midnight
that are both esoteric the 19th century would have had to resort graffiti campaign was fused together before
and quixotic. Though, the to a lengthy process of at least, three to the exhibition.
second interpretation is four months in order to create a genuine The analogue behind Virus Attack could be
more realistic. photographic masterpiece. In present day, the explicit definition of human knowledge
During the course of the ever-growing utilization of the microchip that was and still is transferred through
eventide, throngs of and photo programs acts as a gateway for symbolic representations.
Chinese women were further creative exploration, for instance, the
gathering fruits from animation programs. ARTIsT sTATEmENT
the trees, whereupon they MICHAEL kILLEN
MANGOSTEEN The photo supplied with the article took an
OIl ON SIlK BROCADE discovered an odd white approximate hour of labour in PhotoShop CO.DERRY, NORTH IRELAND
3’ x 4’ fruit. Unable to eat the hard and half-an-hour working with the model. I have been a professional sculptor for 23
2001 fruit, the women boiled the years and the greater portion of my work
J.J.lEE How long would it have taken for an artist
specimen in scalding water. one-hundred years ago to accomplish the has been executed on a commission basis.
Alas, the method proved to same result? The commissions I have executed have been

74 WORLD of ART