HOME
CONTACT
ABOUT NOW
ADVERTISE
AD INDEX
APPS
! " # $ SEARCH
NEWS ART
LIFE&STYLE
FOOD&DRINK
MUSIC
MOVIES
STAGE
ART
BOOKS
VIDEO
CLASSIFIEDS
ART REVIEWS
Adbusters but different
Doyon-Rivest comments on consumerism by creating ads for itself By KEVIN TEMPLE DOYON-RIVEST at Gallery TPW (80 Spadina, #310) to November 27. 416-504-4242. Rating: NNNN NOW RATING:
NNNN
Like Be the first of your friends to like this.
Tweet
It’s not unthinkable that academics in the 22nd century will study today’s advertising as art history. Eroding the already gossamer divide between art and marketing with their art-collective-as-corporate-entity Doyon-Rivest, Quebec City’s Mathieu Doyon and Simon Rivest , are currently showing Thanks For Being There at Gallery TPW . Where Adbusters appropriates ads to critique consumerism, Doyon-Rivest enthusiastically embrace marketing, making artwork that serves as corporate advertising for itself.
NEWS SECTIONS FEATURES NEWSFRONT TECHNOLOGY EVENT LISTINGS NEWS QUESTIONS
Printed on the beach balls littering the gallery floor is a logo consisting of the DoyonRivest name in elegant type and a trite, simplistic globe. Neatly arranged along a brown wall, 75 department-store-style portraits, the weakest part of the show, hint at Doyon-Rivest’s target market. The phrase "Knowing is half the battle" runs along the wall in white vinyl lettering, alluding both to the GI Joe cartoons and to the power of market research. A small projection presents their "research," a series of images of banal architecture, fast food and a van. Pastel charts make reference to hollow psychographic measurements of spirituality, regrets, creativity, pity and more. Demanding the most attention, nine large, silly, immaculate photos framed in plexiglass feature objects and their logo. A boy gazes over the edge of a swimming pool, one of the beach ball s in the foreground. A pregnant woman showers behind a Doyon-Rivest shower curtain. Most bizarrely, a parakeet lies on its back on a grey carpet, peering at the lens, beside a Doyon-Rivest pencil. Triggering our involuntary association of the logo-image with advertising, the pieces reflect our media-trained assumptions in a funhouse mirror. Doyon-Rivest’s images work like advertising but are utterly devoid of a meaningful message, thereby playing a sly trick on the consumer gaze.
MORE ART REVIEWS STORIES Discipline to the max
Jen Aitken’s works manage to be both abstract and organic NOW | June 5-12, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 40
The write stuff
Wordplay works are often profound NOW | April 24-May 1, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 34
This is a test
• NOW | November 17-24, 2005 | VOL 25 NO 12
Like
Show probes immigration rights NOW | April 17-24, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 33
Tweet
All about Eva
Shadows tells Eva Le Gallienne’s story NOW | April 10-17, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 32
RECENT STORIES BY KEVIN TEMPLE
Noodling Installation Bring cash and go early Pootoogook’s Inuit insight All the 411 on 519’s show Hungarian rhapsodizing
Full Nelson at Power Plant
You might like:
Rob Ford: from distraction to abstraction (this site)
UK artist brings explorations of nomads and outsiders to Canada NOW | April 3-10, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 31 Paid Distribution
Paid Distribution
Tom Cruise And Katie Holmes' Unusual Marriage Revealed
16 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Are Gay! (Fame10)
Landscape layers
Birch shows probe politics and memory NOW | March 27-April 3, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 30
Robyn Doolittle leaving the Toronto Star (this site)
(Zimbio)
Recommended by
0 Comments
NOW Magazine
Login
Sort by Best
Share
Favorite
Show probes digital media’s potential NOW | March 13-20, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 28
Body as canvas
Be the first to comment.
Videos get physical – literally NOW | March 6-13, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 27 WHAT'S THIS?
ALSO ON NOW MAGAZINE
Men’s rights whitewash
Mariah Carey
337 comments • 5 days ago
1 comment • 8 days ago
Randy McDonald — " If Justin wanted to
Olav — Thanks for the great review. Wish
give his last name he would have."Having a spokesperson who …
more people would appreicate Marah like you and DivaDevotee, …
Anchor: weight or waste?
The hex on Hudak
1 comment • 8 days ago
41 comments • 8 days ago
Bill Owen — Mansbridge has to go. I
nunnia_bidness — number of times the
almost fell asleep typing his name.
NDP has led Ontario = 1number of times Dim WhoDat has led Ontario = …
Add Disqus to your site
Baroque show is that and more NOW | March 20-27, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 29
Savvy Simulators
Start the discussion…
Subscribe
Excess to the max
War in pieces
Charles Stankievech’s provocative show links visual arts with military intelligence NOW | February 27March 6, 2014 | VOL 33 NO 26
Sections
Promotions
Magazine
Company
Connect
News Life&Style Food&Drink Music Art Books Stage Movies Video Classifieds Best Of
Contests Newsletters
In Print Archive Ad Index
About Contact Advertise Staff Masthead Careers Syndication Privacy Policy Terms Of Service F.A.Q.
Apps Facebook Twitter Search