Chris Woods: The Magic Hour Part
II
April 5 - 28, 2007
Opening reception Thursday April 5, 6 to 8 pm
Diane Farris Gallery is delighted to present its 9th solo exhibition
of the paintings of Chris Woods. Chris continues to query our
automotive aspirations in his eagerly-awaited second series
of work about car culture, The Magic Hour, Part II.
Woods quickly became well known for posing his Gen-X friends
in parodies of consumerism. His McTopia series probed
the ubiquity of fast food franchises, including our devotion
to corporations like McDonald's and Burger King. In 2004, Woods
moved from themes of teenage angst and the "religion"
of fast food to the automobile industry.
The Magic Hour, Part I examined the dark side of car
advertising and addressed its disconnection from the hard reality
of gridlock. The large-scale oil paintings, which mimic advertisements
and billboards, are huge achievements both technically and conceptually.
In Part II, Woods admits that although car culture
has become tyrannical in the Western world, it also represents
a chance for personal freedom. Cars may represent the frustrations
of gridlock and isolation, but they also symbolize the genuine
human desire for liberty.
Our love affair with crash-test ratings, safety and navigational
devices, massive rear-view mirrors and emergency cell phones
has created the impression we are indestructible in our cars.
One painting depicts a woman wearing nothing but a bulletproof
vest in front of her car. Another has a woman deflecting bullets
as she is standing by her car with the door open. Using a combination
of photographs shot in his studio, ads culled from magazines
and stock photos from the Internet, Woods continues to question
not only the influence of the car over us, but our choice in
using cars — especially SUVs and other “road weapons”
— against ourselves. Ultimately he asks, “Does the
car seek to bless us or destroy us?”
The subjects who populate his paintings are the same friends
he has painted from the beginning of his career at age 18. We
have enjoyed watching everyone mature in his paintings as they
proceed through life in the realm of popular culture.
Woods’ work has appeared on the cover of Adbusters magazine,
Saturday Night magazine, in the Kevin Smith film, Clerks
2, the multi award-winning Canadian documentary film The
Corporation and numerous other publications. In 2003, he
painted the cover for pop group Barenaked Ladies’ album,
Everything to Everyone. He has had numerous solo shows
in Canada and the United States.
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Six Point Adjustable, 2005
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