This month, the Doris McCarthy Gallery at UTSC is exhibiting Storage Facilities, a collection of works by contemporary Canadian artist Liz Magor. Magor has displayed sculptures and photographs across the country.
Now based in Vancouver, Magor studied at New York’s Pearson School of Design and the University of British Columbia. Having exhibited since the 1970s, the meanings behind Magor’s work are frequently elusive. Recently, though, her art has focused on provoking the human intellect with suggestions of social and environmental decay. Storage Facilities riffs on how the toxins we consume every day poison the planet as well as ourselves.
Magor uses polymerized gypsum, a type of plaster, to make the highly realistic reproductions of objects displayed in Storage Facilities. The reproductions are so believable that it’s easy to forget that the disturbing objects are only simulated.
Upon entering the exhibition, the visitor must choose between two passages. To the right is a room illuminated with synthetically white light, and featuring filthy, white tables. Upon the tables lie sculptures of animals and clothing, juxtaposed with cigarettes, chocolate boxes, and bottles of alcohol. Several small animal corpses, including those of a raccoon, a squirrel, and a rat, lie on top of silver trays. Underneath the tables lies a cut-up wooden pole oozing toxic yellow foam.
To the left is a smaller area resembling a storage room, which houses hoarded provisions lit by a yellow, musty glow. The room holds several storage boxes, bookshelves, and used household items, commenting on the decaying properties of the consumerist lifestyle.
If your stomach is strong, visiting Storage Facilities is a great way to think about sustainability and the human impact on the environment.
Storage Facilities runs at the Doris McCarthy Gallery at the University of Toronto Scarborough through October 25. For more information, visit www.utsc.utoronto.ca/dmg or call 416-287-7007.
