Friday Foto

Last night I ventured over to 108 Charles Street to check out The Happiness Project, which is a multidisciplinary exhibition that is based on Charles Spearin’s record of the same name.  A stellar cast of Kingston, Toronto and Montreal-based artists including Josh Lyon, Annie Clifford, Marney McDiarmid, Don Maynard, Jon Claytor, Nicole Aline Legault, Jeff Barbeau, Vince Perez and Arron Gibson took over various spaces inside the residence at 108 Charles. Therein, rooms were transformed to reflect each artist’s interpretation of one of the tracks from Spearin’s album.  While each space offered a unique experience for the senses, my personal favourite was Maynard’s Mr. Gowrie (pictured above), which was accompanied by the following statement:

Water, memory.
Mr. Gowrie speaks from memory. He is living his life in review. His sonorous voice takes us back to his youth and to his many brothers and sisters who surrounded him in his childhood home. There seems to be only the slightest separation between the thin walls of this house and the forces of nature. The wind moves through this house. The rain is here. This is where the greater Mr. Gavin lives today. His mother is central here. She looms large as the archetype of this family. She is goddess-like in his eyes and he maintains an unspoken deference to all that she was and that he remembers her to be. His melodious voice comes from below, bubbles rising to the surface. This installation plays a part in Mr. Gowrie’s memories. His mother welcomes you as all mothers do. She is deep in the water.

The Happiness Project is free for all, while it operates from 4pm to 7pm, and it will be wrapping up on Saturday, March 20th.  In case you can’t make it out, and for a taste of what there is to see, please check out our latest Flickr set. TGIF!