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| Exhibition Pieces Chris Woods: The Magic Hour Part II April 5 - 28, 2007 Opening reception Thursday April 5, 6 to 8 pm 
Audio
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| Six-Point
Adjustable 2005 oil on canvas 54.5 x 36.5 inches Six Point Adjustable has the first nude figure I've included in my work. I usually like to see how clothes reflect pop culture and the people wearing them but in this case I felt that the absence of clothes suited the theme. Like the woman in Professional Driver, Closed Course, this figure has gained a sense of invulnerability from her car. In this case it has manifested itself in the form of a robust, bulletproof vest. Despite her lack of clothing, her vest and her car have made her impervious to danger. Although she seems vulnerable because of her nakedness, her expression shows that she is in total control of her situation and fears nothing from us. In fact it might be we the viewers who have something to worry about. This painting is also the only one in which the car is actually owned by the model. |
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| Cactus 2006 oil on canvas 60.5 x 55.5 inches Cactus is an odd painting to include in a series about car advertising since no car appears in the image. Only a Mercedes Benz logo gives any indication of the automotive theme. If you look carefully though, you can see headlights reflected in the giant, spiky, ocean mine looming behind the figures. What is an ocean mine doing floating in the desert? A question for which I have no good answer. The closest I can come is that the desert, which is a popular location for car commercials, is also the first place that an atomic weapon was tested. The car and the atom bomb are two gadgets that have radically altered the course of human affairs. I see this painting as a scene that the viewer has just driven up to on a desert road and now has to puzzle out for themselves. |
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| Cortez 2007 oil on canvas 60 x 55 inches I don't want to say too much about the action in Cortez so instead I'll talk about the location. In March 2005, my wife and I took a trip to Arizona and California to drive and photograph part of the old Route 66 highway. Even though Route 66 no longer officially exists on the map, many parts of the road are still in use. The road seen in Cortez is a stretch of Route 66 smack in the middle of California's mojave desert. Near this location is an almost ghost-town called Amboy. It features an old and very famous roadside stop called Roy's Motel and Cafe. As you approach Amboy you can see a huge old sign with a red arrowhead pointing to a gas station and a line of old cabins. The sign stands quiet like the monolith from the movie 2001. Roy's Motel and Cafe has been used in numerous feature films, TV shows and print ads as the prototypical, retro, last-chance-gas, isolated desert location. In an odd way, it's the unknown epicenter of modern car and advertising culture. One thing about Cortez: The colour of the PT Cruiser in the image is called "Inca Gold". |
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| Sable
Black 2006 oil on canvas 90.5 x 60.5 inches The Cadillac Escalade is marketed as the world's most powerful SUV. Sable Black shows two figures standing in front of a billboard for the Escalade. One holds a sword and another a shield bearing the Cadillac logo. I see this painting as a sequel of sorts to a painting seen in The Magic Hour-Part One called Dragon. In that piece we see a knight with a broken sword defeated by a menacing Escalade. In Dragon, the knight was defeated by the monster but in Sable Black he has returned with an ally for a rematch with the SUV and has finally emerged triumphant. "Escalada" is Spanish for "climb" and I am struck by how Escalade sounds like "escalate", a term that is often used in warfare when the conflict reaches a higher stage of intensity. Escalade is indeed an apt name for such a powerful road machine. "Sable Black", by the way, is the one of the options for the Escalade's exterior paint finish. Also, see the cover painting for the movie Conan the Barbarian for some of what inspired this piece. |
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| Stopping Power 2007 oil on canvas 42.5 x 84.5 inches "Stopping Power" is a term used to describe the ability of a firearm to most effectively halt an attacker. The more powerful the bullet, the less shots its takes to kill your enemy. Stopping Power is also the name of my painting that features an actual Chrysler sports car named the Crossfire. I find it disturbing that a car should be named after a situation that in reality would indeed be a very negative one. I also find it odd that a car with such a name would be introduced into the North American market while a war involving American citizens rages in Iraq. The notion that a vehicle designed to impart pleasure is named for such an unfortunate concept is certainly a strange one. In our current political climate it seems sad that anyone would want to be caught in Chrysler's Crossfire. |
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| Professional
Driver, Closed Course 2004 oil on canvas 54.5 x 36.5 inches Professional Driver, Closed Course is the only piece in this show that has Vancouver as a setting. All the other paintings feature backgrounds from the Mojave desert in Southern California. I spent an evening shooting photographs of Vancouver city streets in preparation for part two and I didn't notice that I had captured the GM Place logo until I later reviewed the shots. That made it a number one candidate for a backdrop. The theme of this piece is obvious. It looks at how we feel bulletproof when we drive. In this piece those feelings extend into the world outside the car's shell of steel and glass. Another element that comes in in this piece is the notion of cars and sex. In most car advertising the gorgeous models seem like an option that you could buy at the dealership along with the air-conditioning. In this case the woman is in no way content with being another simple add-on. |
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| X-Type #1
2005 |
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| X-Type #2
2005 |
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