transformative

We were very fortunate to catch an exhibition by Brian Jungen, an artist from British Columbia with Dunne-za ancestry, at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal a few years ago, a show whose inspiration stays with me to this day. Brian's playful wit & outstanding craftsmanship combine to create thought-provoking pieces which comment on the juncture between First Nations culture & contemporary consumerism by working everyday objects into traditional designs & natural objects. Plastic lawn chairs were transformed into an enormous whale skeleton that floated across the gallery, & sneakers were transmogrified into masks which, when suspended from the ceiling, recalled a ghostly ritual. Baseball skins reconfigured & stitched into a skull-like mask made for a melancholy sentinel between the two worlds.

photos from here