Operated by the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society

September 19 – October 29, 2008

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Westward Ha!
Visual Wit in the Wild West

Westward Ha! is an exhibition of art works by 19 non-conventional Western Canadian artists who share a penchant for creative irony and comic innovation.

With a game plan seemingly based on buffoonery, wit and a surrealist’s sense of the absurd, these playful artists delight in producing art works which run the gamut from whimsical slapstick to acerbic satire to comic surrealism.

Apart from the welcome diversion and comic relief, not to mention the smiles, chuckles, laugher and serious contemplation that the art works promote, Westward Ha! remains first and foremost an exhibition that champions humour as an art strategy, while serving as a reminder that mirthfulness  not only transforms the practice and experience of art, but also helps to humanize our culture and make our world a better place.

It has been said that the effect of joke comes about through bewilderment being succeeded by illumination. If this is so, every piece of artwork in Westward Ha! is a visual joke.

Freud, in his opus Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious defined “joke” to mean a wealth of ridiculous and comic contrasts and as a force that can illuminate thoughts. He described the “joke-maker” as a person who possesses a playful attitude while searching for similarity between dissimilar thongs. Ralph Waldo Emerson drew attention to this procreative quality when he said, “It is a happy talent to know how to play”.

The art works in Westward Ha! affirm Freud’s theory about jokes and creativity; each piece in this eye-popping exhibition seems to have evolved from inversion strategy – irony, displacement, contradiction, hyperbole, metamorphosis, ambiguity, parody, caricature, re-contextualization – all of which are methods for reconstructing and transforming reality into comic fantasy by a super-active and uninhibited imagination and wit.

To those who need to ask, “Why humour is art?” should consider the following:

• with the affirmation of laughter as the best medicine, the comically-inclined artists and performers of our planet have taught us that humour offers not an escape from anywhere, but an escape to a different reality, one where laughter and comic fantasy helps to elevate us from life’s everyday problems and offers a better understanding of ourselves and of each other, while at the same time providing and agreeable means of critique;
• one thing we know for sure: humour is not only good medicine, but is truly a democratic phenomenon – it always lets the viewer have the last laugh !

Westward Ha! is curated by Nicholas Roukes and Reinhard Skoracki. The exhibit comprises works by the following artists, from British Columbia:  Lisa Birke, Jude Griebel, Elaine Brewer-White, Bill Zuk , Peter Shaughnessy, and Michael Hermesch; from Alberta:  Pat Strakowski, John Will, Jeff DeBoer, Scot Bullick, Dallas Diamond, Roger Scrimshaw, Jim Picco, and Thomas Harcsa; from Saskatchewan: Vic Cicansky, Joe Fafard, and Charles Malinsky.   Also on view are the art works by the curators.

Nicholas Roukes
Exhibition Curator

Beyond common sense lies a universe of
utter chaos, unrelieved nonsense and riotous
freedoms of expression. Under their influence
our universe is refreshed and we begin to
reinvent our relations to the world.

Musée Juste Pure Rire, Montreal

List of Images (left to right, top to bottom):

1. Victor Cicansky, Ducks Unlimited, 2008, clay, glaze
2. Lisa Birke, Techno-MuppetManitarian-Beast, 2003, mixed media
3. Elaine Brewer-White, Elizabeth Puts the “r” in “relaxation”, 2008, ceramic, acrylic, enamel
4. Scot Bullick, Snow Man, 2007, digital photograph on paper
5. Dallas Diamond, “Well I sure hope they remember to punch holes in the lid”, 1999/2008, glass bottle, earthenware, glazes, lustre
6. Joe Fafard, “The Painter”, 1986, bronze, patina, paint
7. Jude Griebel, Mice Listening to a Girl’s Regrets, 2006, oil on panel.
8. Thomas Harcsa, Multi Cultural Tumbleweed, 2007, metal.
9. Michael Hermesh, The Undeniable Bravery of Your Average Balloonist II, 2008, mixed media (ceramic, steel, Styrofoam)
10. Jeff DeBoer, Emergency Jet Pack, 2004, steel, copper, brass, mixed media.
11. Charles Malinsky, Laugh, For the Time Here is Brief, 2002, oil on canvas.
12. Jim Picco, Rogues Gallery (Lo Scherzo e su Voi), 2008, crayon, mixed media.
13. Nicholas Roukes, The World is Unfolding, 2006, wood, acrylic, mixed media.
14. Reinhard Skoracki, Nature is an Eternal Mystery, 2006, bronze, steel.
15. Roger Scrimshaw, Argillaceous Simulacrum: fiat lux, 2008, clay, wood, mirror.
16. Peter Shaughnessy, Breathing Space, 2008, wood, glass, wire.
17. Pat Strakowsky, Coyote the Moon Nibbler, 1992, mixed media.
18. John Will, God Loves You, 2007, acrylic and litho plate on canvas.
19. Bill Zuk, Fancy Cube, 2007, Goyu paper print.