Whatcha Really Really Want, 2004
On the TTC:
Monday 3rd, Sunday 23rd

This Week's Top Eight, 2004
On the TTC:
Thursday the 13th

Whatcha Really Really Want, 2004
On the TTC:
Friday the 21st

Artist Statement

In 2003, CTV announced the launch of Canadian Idol auditions across the country. To the astonishment of the producers, thousands auditioned in each major Canadian city. But who wouldn’t want the prospect to fast-track to the top of their field? In spite of – or because of the cusp generation’s savvy to deconstruct media, I was curious to understand the numbers. Admittedly I still think it is funny that an art magazine press pass gave me access to the auditions, the production and back stage.

In 2004 I exhibited documentation of the process and a simulated photographic competition of my own at Paul Petro Contemporary Art. Later, ten more competitors from Buffalo were added to the fictitious contest and exhibited at Hallwalls Gallery. The ‘contest’ was comprised of 50 photographs of students, colleagues and friends adorned with a microphone and contestant number and a voting box with ballots. At the end of each week, the ballots were tabulated to determine the winner. But what were the criteria: the cutest? the best photograph? the funniest? Regardless, the 10 portraits receiving the most votes were hung on an adjoining wall. These ‘winners’ portraits were shot off a monitor to suggest they were on TV, as a next level in the competition. Each week the week’s top ten were adjusted.

Artist Bio

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Suzy Lake immigrated to Montreal in 1968 where she began teaching at the Montreal Museum School of Art. She was one of 13 artists to co-found Vehicule Art Inc. in 1972. Lake is considered to be among the first female artists to adopt performance, video and photography to explore the politics of gender, the body and identity in Canada.

Suzy Lake was the subject of a major mid-career retrospective organized by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography in 1993, and was one of 119 women in the historical feminist exhibition: WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution 1965-1980. Lake’s early work was featured in Identity Theft: Eleanor Antin, Lynn Hershmann and Suzy Lake 1972-1978 at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in 2007. In 2008 she was invited by CONTACT to mount an installation titled Rhythm of a True Space on the hoarding of the AGO. Lake is currently preparing for an exhibition titled Political Poetics at the University of Toronto Art Gallery in May 2011.

Artist Contact

www.suzylake.ca
www.paulpetro.com
www.solwayjonesgallery.com