Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Artist adopts alter ego to play with familiar personalities
Niklas Bergman -- comic-book artist, founder of Sensible Studios, designer for the popular Hepkid line of toys, and native son of snowy Gredeby, Sweden -- doesn't actually exist.
Joseph Reyes, a 30-year-old Winnipeg artist currently working in Korea, likes to take on personas for his art shows. For last year's Annals of Experimental and Clinical Anatomy, he became Ignacio Marquez, a medical illustrator and "controversial" practising physician. For his new show at Cre8ery, Reyes has adopted the alter ego of the extroverted, eccentric Bergman.
The Action Figurine Expo consists of 15-centimetre human figures made with Super Sculpey -- a clay polymer that is moulded, baked and painted -- and displayed in standardized commercial plastic packaging. The Toys R Us trappings are deceptive, though. Reyes isn't making kids' models. He's playing around with ideas, especially the notion that social interaction sometimes involves slotting people into familiar types.
Reyes describes his sculptural subjects as "people you sort of see every day." Swapping stories with an international gang of friends in Korea, Reyes found that certain categories seemed to pop up all over the world, from Winnipeg to Liverpool to Seoul.
Evidently, The Old Lady that Walks Everywhere with Grocery Bags is a universal phenomenon, as is The Coffee Shop Writer, the guy at Starbucks who tries to look like he's working on a literary masterpiece.
Reyes, who graduated from the University of Manitoba's School of Art in 2002, pokes mild fun at self-deception and vanity. Still Goth shows a guy hanging on to his black lipstick and ink-dipped hair long past high school, while the I Do Pilates and It Shows woman sports a workout bra and expensive yoga pants, the better to show off her powerful core.
Reyes also goes after gaps between appearance and reality. A kid in dreadlocks and Rastafarian gear is reluctantly White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, while Cutie_Girl97 is actually a bald, fat, middle-aged man.
The show is a sideways exploration of social spaces like bus stops, city streets and supermarkets, and our encounters with people whom we recognize but don't really know. Reyes offers some gentle satire, but his feelings toward his fellow citizens are mostly generous.
Just ask Niklas Bergman, who calls the figurines "ordinary superheroes."
"I see people on benches, and their inner element just springs out of them. They have more powers than super superheroes," he adds.
Speaking of ordinary superheroes, the 1 of 1 Project -- on view at SK8 Skates at the Forks Market until July 2 ---- is an arts fundraiser for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba. Artists, designers and illustrators from Winnipeg and across North America have customized 30 pairs of Vans shoes, making for some edgy, street-level art. (Check out the auction at www.the1of1project.wordpress.com.)
alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca
Art review
Joseph Reyes: Niklas Bergman's Action Figurine Expo
Cre8ery, 125 Adelaide St., 2nd floor
Until July 6
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 30, 2010 D7
-
WFP Hockey
Download our new hockey app for the iPhone for Winnipeg Jets updates
-
Editor's Bulletin
Sign up for daily bulletins from editor Margo Goodhand
-
Winnipeg Jets
All things NHL on our Jets landing page
-
Twitter
Follow our reporters and our news feeds on Twitter
-
News Cafe
Check out the menu, read our blog posts or get info on coming events
-
Facebook Fanpage
Follow our Facebook Fanpage for story links, contests and special events
Ads by Google
- Back to Top
- Return to The Arts
Poll
Most Popular
- Piers Morgan blasts 'gruesome' Madonna
- RCMP receptionist told Stobbe wife was dead
- Search is on for man seen leaving the scene where two Alberta Mounties were shot
- Province rules out reports of cougar in Transcona
- Slain woman appears before jury on video
- City family donates $1 million for endowed research chair in cardiology
- Should the federal government be spending $7.5 million on the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee?
- Census 2011 : Immigrant influx boosts Manitoban population
- LeAnn Rimes in pain following 'minor surgery'
- US teen gets life in prison for killing 9-year-old; called the murder "pretty enjoyable"
- Piers Morgan blasts 'gruesome' Madonna
- Clothing chain pulls Caterpillar boots to protest closure of London, Ont., plant
- Three winning tickets sold for Friday's $50 million Lotto Max jackpot
- Woman sexually assaulted during noon-hour in Exchange District
- Woman's car stolen at gunpoint at St. Vital mall, police say
- 'This is so silly': Mom and Dad tell story of baby Zade, born on side of Highway 59
- Stobbe said slaying during shopping trip 'strange': sister-in-law
- Eleven people killed after truck hits van in southwestern Ontario
- Tactical squad storms St. Vital house
- Restaurant Dubrovnik may be closed for good
- Do you smoke marijuana?
- Driver dead after SUV goes over Disraeli Bridge
- George Clooney's prank could end Pitt's career
- Piers Morgan blasts 'gruesome' Madonna
- Clothing chain pulls Caterpillar boots to protest closure of London, Ont., plant
- Minor earthquake strikes near Manitoba
- Tina Maze strips down to her sports bra to send out underwear message: 'Not your business'
- Group's speed-limit sign removed from Pembina Highway
- Car's plunge off Disraeli fatal
- Two children, two women die in fire
- Harper driven by libertarian ideology, not reality
- Province rules out reports of cougar in Transcona
- Census 2011 : Immigrant influx boosts Manitoban population
- Original Joe's, Elephant & Castle expanding
- OMG! Candy kings back at it
- Task force to review 2011 flood
- Winnipeg software company ranked top employer
- Easy, economical, healthy soup
- Lesson about war, power told with Shaw's comic touch
- Stobbe said slaying during shopping trip 'strange': sister-in-law
- Swedish bunny's sheep herding skills becomes click-monster on YouTube
- League encourages hazing secrecy
- Northern fishing lodge destroyed by fire
- Police target drivers talking on cellphones, texting
- Minor earthquake strikes near Manitoba
- Obama torn by conflicting allies
- Harper driven by libertarian ideology, not reality
- 'This is so silly': Mom and Dad tell story of baby Zade, born on side of Highway 59
- Time, it appears, is on Assad's side
- Woman's car stolen at gunpoint at St. Vital mall, police say
- Minor earthquake strikes near Manitoba
- Paddler Starkell was modern-day voyageur
- Driver dead after SUV goes over Disraeli Bridge
- Car's plunge off Disraeli fatal
- Local shooting spoofed on SNL
- Winnipeg mother watches as car stolen with child inside
- Canadian woman 'badly injured' in Mexico, local media report apparent beating
- Swedish bunny's sheep herding skills becomes click-monster on YouTube
- League encourages hazing secrecy
- 4 dead in northern Ontario plane crash
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010; View the changes. New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.