Intentionally intriguing

Romantic conceptualist artist Jon Sasaki's latest work is currently on display at UTSC's Doris McCarthy Gallery. The exhibition, titled Good Intentions, features a collection of installations and videos that contrast the themes of tragedy and dark humour alongside efforts at realism and positive thinking.

At first glance, Sasaki's pieces seem blandly simple, but with some examination, hidden meanings begin to emerge. For example, video “Ladder Stack” depicts Sasaki trying to reach the top of a wall by stacking ladders one on top of the other. The video never explains why he must reach the top, but despite his inadequate tools, he overcomes the obstacle. The precarious character grabs our attention because we expect him to fall off, but his optimism in making the best of a bad situation is certainly reassuring. If nothing else, it's kind of funny.

“I hope people pick up on this humour,” Sasaki explained at an artist talk at the gallery last week. “To me, anyway, it’s funny. It’s dark and dry humour.”

The second video in the exhibition, “The Destination and the Journey”, is inspired by slapstick. A man is driving when suddenly he pulls a map out in front of himself, blocking his entire view of the road. He studies the map for quite some time, so focused on the destination that he doesn’t pay any attention to the road. I was glued to the spot, waiting for the inevitable car crash to ensue.

What makes Sasaki's work fascinating is that the scenes he films are not set up: whatever we watch, we can be sure that it's actually happened. Of course, this creates a greater sense of tension among viewers, as any consequences resulting from his work are entirely real. It's hard not to worry about the precarious characters and the outcomes of their actions. Why does he take such risks?

“Credibility is important for me in the work,” Sasaki said. “It’s important for people to recognize that it actually happened.”

His video “A Wound-Down Watch Coaxed to Run a Bit Longer” provides another example of tragicomedy. In this one, Sasaki shakes his wind-up watch every few seconds, causing the hand to move slightly and defeating the purpose of carrying the watch in the first place. He makes the watch tick 90 times before it gets thoroughly exhausted—at which point his three-and-a-half-minute video ends. It's amusing watching the watch continue to move despite being completely dead, although I'm also grateful that Sasaki kept this video short—any longer, and it would have become entirely annoying.

The main video in the exhibition, “Crossroads,” used a steadycam to film the intersection of highways 49 and 61 in Mississippi. According to blues legend, this is the spot that artists would visit at midnight to sell their souls to the devil in exchange for expert guitar skills. The film has a serial killer vibe, as the steadycam rocks constantly, shifting in and out of focus to explore various alternative paths. After watching the other videos, I was left wondering what would emerge from this uncomfortable atmosphere.

At first glance, installation “The Spirit of Individualism” appears to be a statue of a cowgirl—it's quite jarring when one comes to realize that she's actually a human being. The model was remarkably focused, and she never appeared to blink or breathe. Sasaki explained that whenever we encounter human statues, there’s an expectation that they will interact with the audience in some way. In the case of the robots outside of the Eaton Centre, all it takes is a few coins in a hat to make them come alive. The human statue in this piece is different because she keeps her distance from the audience, refusing to acknowledge our presence.

A final amusing installation features a snow cone machine. In the middle of a snowstorm, he put up a large sign inviting students to come into the gallery for free snow cones—an odd offer, given the weather at the time. He hadn't thought that anyone would come, but as has become typical for Sasaki, his piece resulted in the unpredictable. Plenty of students were happy to come into the gallery for a snow cone.

Sasaki says that this particular installation was somewhat of a Trojan horse, intended to get people to visit the gallery—as he noted, it was a better motivator than holding a sign labelled “free contemporary art.” Will you need a snow cone as an incentive to visit? Hopefully not, because this exhibition is well worth a look.

Good Intentions runs through February 24. For more information, visit utsc.utoronto.ca/~dmg