Study: Imitations of the Self #3 | Suzy Lake
1973/2012
18 x 12.5 inches (25.75 x 20 inches framed)
Edition of 20, 3 APs
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
My arts practice was influenced by the American social and political change of the 1960s. Although I was trained as a painter/printmaker, I turned to performance, video, and photography as more appropriate media to explore the body, identity, and the politics of gender. Imitations of the Self and their studies (1973) are a significant representation of my investigation into the changing role of women from the wife/mother of the previous generation. Working with a performative narrative, the subject applies clown-white make-up as a tabula rasa. (In mime, whiteface signifies “zero”—before character. It is movement and gesture that defines the character.) Then, common over-the-counter make-up is applied on top of the clown-white. These two layers create a mask-like appearance that questions the simulation of the performer as a device to hide or to reveal a truer identity. These negatives were never printed and are being printed for their first time in 2012.
– Suzy Lake, 2012
ABOUT SUZY LAKE
Born 1947 in Detroit
American-born Canadian artist Suzy Lake is known internationally for artworks in multiple media that engage female identity, questions of representation, and the process of aging. She has exhibited and performed widely since the early 1970s; was a co-founder of Vehicule Art, a pioneering artist-run centre; and has won numerous awards and special designations, including the 2016 Scotiabank Photography Award and an appointment to the Canadian Academy of Arts. She is a founding member of Gallery TPW and participated in the 1992 TPW exhibition Authority Is an Attribute, Part 2.
Selected solo exhibitions: “Scotiabank Photography Award: Suzy Lake,” Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto (2017); “Suzy Lake: Performing an Archive,” McMaster University Art Museum, Hamilton, ON (2016); “Introducing Suzy Lake,” Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2014–15); “Suzy Lake: Revealment/Concealment,” Hallwalls Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2006); “A Point of Reference,” Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa (1996)
Selected group exhibitions: “Clock for Seeing: Time and Motion,” National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2015); “WOMAN: The Feminist Avant-Garde from the 1970s, Works from the Sammlung Verbund, Vienna,” toured to multiple European museums (2013–14); “A Bigger Splash: Painting after Performance Art,” Tate Modern, London (2013); “Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada, 1965–1980,” touring to multiple Canadian museums (2010–12); “WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, 1965–1980,” touring exhibition organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2007–08)
Selected public collections: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa; Montreal Museum of Fine Art; Musée d’art Contemporain, Montreal; Museum Lodz, Wroclaw, Poland; Vancouver Art Gallery
1973/2012
18 x 12.5 inches (25.75 x 20 inches framed)
Edition of 20, 3 APs
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
My arts practice was influenced by the American social and political change of the 1960s. Although I was trained as a painter/printmaker, I turned to performance, video, and photography as more appropriate media to explore the body, identity, and the politics of gender. Imitations of the Self and their studies (1973) are a significant representation of my investigation into the changing role of women from the wife/mother of the previous generation. Working with a performative narrative, the subject applies clown-white make-up as a tabula rasa. (In mime, whiteface signifies “zero”—before character. It is movement and gesture that defines the character.) Then, common over-the-counter make-up is applied on top of the clown-white. These two layers create a mask-like appearance that questions the simulation of the performer as a device to hide or to reveal a truer identity. These negatives were never printed and are being printed for their first time in 2012.
– Suzy Lake, 2012
ABOUT SUZY LAKE
Born 1947 in Detroit
American-born Canadian artist Suzy Lake is known internationally for artworks in multiple media that engage female identity, questions of representation, and the process of aging. She has exhibited and performed widely since the early 1970s; was a co-founder of Vehicule Art, a pioneering artist-run centre; and has won numerous awards and special designations, including the 2016 Scotiabank Photography Award and an appointment to the Canadian Academy of Arts. She is a founding member of Gallery TPW and participated in the 1992 TPW exhibition Authority Is an Attribute, Part 2.
Selected solo exhibitions: “Scotiabank Photography Award: Suzy Lake,” Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto (2017); “Suzy Lake: Performing an Archive,” McMaster University Art Museum, Hamilton, ON (2016); “Introducing Suzy Lake,” Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2014–15); “Suzy Lake: Revealment/Concealment,” Hallwalls Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2006); “A Point of Reference,” Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa (1996)
Selected group exhibitions: “Clock for Seeing: Time and Motion,” National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2015); “WOMAN: The Feminist Avant-Garde from the 1970s, Works from the Sammlung Verbund, Vienna,” toured to multiple European museums (2013–14); “A Bigger Splash: Painting after Performance Art,” Tate Modern, London (2013); “Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada, 1965–1980,” touring to multiple Canadian museums (2010–12); “WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, 1965–1980,” touring exhibition organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2007–08)
Selected public collections: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa; Montreal Museum of Fine Art; Musée d’art Contemporain, Montreal; Museum Lodz, Wroclaw, Poland; Vancouver Art Gallery
1973/2012
18 x 12.5 inches (25.75 x 20 inches framed)
Edition of 20, 3 APs
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
My arts practice was influenced by the American social and political change of the 1960s. Although I was trained as a painter/printmaker, I turned to performance, video, and photography as more appropriate media to explore the body, identity, and the politics of gender. Imitations of the Self and their studies (1973) are a significant representation of my investigation into the changing role of women from the wife/mother of the previous generation. Working with a performative narrative, the subject applies clown-white make-up as a tabula rasa. (In mime, whiteface signifies “zero”—before character. It is movement and gesture that defines the character.) Then, common over-the-counter make-up is applied on top of the clown-white. These two layers create a mask-like appearance that questions the simulation of the performer as a device to hide or to reveal a truer identity. These negatives were never printed and are being printed for their first time in 2012.
– Suzy Lake, 2012
ABOUT SUZY LAKE
Born 1947 in Detroit
American-born Canadian artist Suzy Lake is known internationally for artworks in multiple media that engage female identity, questions of representation, and the process of aging. She has exhibited and performed widely since the early 1970s; was a co-founder of Vehicule Art, a pioneering artist-run centre; and has won numerous awards and special designations, including the 2016 Scotiabank Photography Award and an appointment to the Canadian Academy of Arts. She is a founding member of Gallery TPW and participated in the 1992 TPW exhibition Authority Is an Attribute, Part 2.
Selected solo exhibitions: “Scotiabank Photography Award: Suzy Lake,” Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto (2017); “Suzy Lake: Performing an Archive,” McMaster University Art Museum, Hamilton, ON (2016); “Introducing Suzy Lake,” Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2014–15); “Suzy Lake: Revealment/Concealment,” Hallwalls Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2006); “A Point of Reference,” Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa (1996)
Selected group exhibitions: “Clock for Seeing: Time and Motion,” National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2015); “WOMAN: The Feminist Avant-Garde from the 1970s, Works from the Sammlung Verbund, Vienna,” toured to multiple European museums (2013–14); “A Bigger Splash: Painting after Performance Art,” Tate Modern, London (2013); “Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada, 1965–1980,” touring to multiple Canadian museums (2010–12); “WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, 1965–1980,” touring exhibition organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2007–08)
Selected public collections: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa; Montreal Museum of Fine Art; Musée d’art Contemporain, Montreal; Museum Lodz, Wroclaw, Poland; Vancouver Art Gallery