Art reflects nostalgia for childhood

A Winnipegger and international artist and curator has returned from Beijing with an art exhibit that will leave adults wishing they could return to a state of childish naiveté.

Douglas Lewis is a former Winnipeg Arts Gallery assistant curator who’s been calling Beijing home for the past 10 years. He comes back to his hometown this year with a new show titled Jus’ Toyin’ Around. The pop-up international show includes the work of 17 artists from around the world — Canada, China, United States, Colombia, Slovenia and Germany.

Lewis has been part of many art projects in Winnipeg and other places around the world, and he is currently an International Baccalaureate visual arts teacher at the Canadian International School Beijing.

He told The Times four of his students, who come from different countries, inspired his research and development for the exhibit, which questions the politics of being an adult. He said their frustration with global politics in their respective countries was evident.

"We talk about politics an awful lot, and I could sense in their eighteen-year-old minds their frustration and how they were kind of getting really wound up in how they were carrying all these (political issues) we hear about," he said.

Jus’ Toyin’ Around reflects the esthetics of the dilemma of growing up and not wanting to grow up, "and it maps escape routes from responsibility by providing irrational distractions, neglected moments, and other purposeful interruptions," Lewis said. 

Once he came up with the idea, he knew he had to put everything together in less than five months.

"I felt that I had to react as fast as what they are going through," Lewis explained. "Everything in the West is comfortable to the point of sleepy because we went through everything so long ago… but in Asia it’s like every two weeks there’s a change."

The exhibit opened on July 7 and runs until July 23 at Flatlanders Studio located on the third floor of 782 Main St. The mixed media show features music, video, sculptures, photography and others. Flatlanders Studio artistic director Blair Barkley said they’ve never had a show with this kind of scope.

"I think for the Winnipeg art scene, from different artists coming from different countries, we get to see different styles, and a different esthetic and different perspective," he added. "It has an edge to it, politically, and it’s an interesting mix."

Lewis added the location connected with his work because it’s an area of the city that is going through changes that are happening fast.

His exhibition is also a work that will change according to the place where it’s featured. Lewis created a publication of the work and will continue to build it through the conversations that he gets here in Winnipeg. He will take the exhibition to Beijing and said he hopes the discussion generated here and there becomes a larger voice in a publication that can get some dissemination.

"It feels like the very beginning of something that’s going to grow. It feels like the shovel on the ground," he added.