Paul Clancy is sitting on a bench in front of four, flat-screen TVs at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery (GPAG) on the first day of his show, Point/ Counterpoint, doing what we all like to do occasionally - staring at moving images.
On video screen number one, Defaced is running, images of a series of masks that Clancy has constructed and photographed. Viewers had commented that his nude photos had no faces, so he decided to give them some in the form of masks. Screen number two is an array of his contemporary photos. Number three is fun if you've ever attended an opening reception at the GPAG. It's his snapshot album featuring lots of local people in candid poses.
Screen number four is fascinating. It incorporates Clancy's digital clips, such as How to Speak Binary, or a montage entitled Mirror Mirror that shows women checking their makeup in a preoccupied, dreamy fashion. It also runs a series of Clancy's photo images including one of the most powerful in the show. West Coast Commando features a waif-like woman warrior wearing a voluminous headdress of salal and butterflies created by Ginny Vail. The waif seems vulnerable, yet shows great courage. She is also depicted on the gallery wall in four differing versions, each one telling a bit more about her.
The screens give us a glimpse into what viewing art might be like in the future, he explains. You like art, but you move into a new, tiny apartment, so where is there room to hang paintings? One wide screen TV can run CDs with your own selection of images in your home. It allows you to change your selection, if you wish, run a narrative with it or play music to accompany it.
Besides the video screens, the GPAG is packed full with Clancy's other framed photographs. Most were taken over the past six years, but some are from the 1970s and reflect a different era. One is taken in Beverly Hills and shows two well-heeled women taking ownership of the shopping street, their concierge trailing along behind carrying their parcels. Another one shows a more grass roots, neighbourhood crowd on bleachers at a protest to save their parkland.
The photos range over all of Clancy's interests: his grandchildren line one wall in black and white photos. Sleep depicts an innocent child with each hair, each eyelash, leaping into focus in muted light. Another wall depicts nudes.
"I love to take photos of women," he said. "Women make more evolutionary progress. They are teens, then mothers and evolve into something else as they get older. They know their path, more so than men."
One wall displays his black and white photos of hands and feet -some are in print film, some in digital, taken on either of his two Nikon 700s or his Olympus. His focus on people comes from his newspaper training; he worked for newspapers in Toronto and Sudbury before he opted out to become a self-employed photographer.
Some photos have been manipulated - in one, the background slips out of focus and only a bare foot remains sharply in the foreground. In another colourful photo, The Mad Hatter Tea Party, Clancy focuses on one guest among the costumed characters at a party, and he has taken the sharpness out of the background to give a sense of the glow of fantasy.
"It removes a layer of clutter, and is a way of simplifying, purifying," he adds.
Clancy's goal is to get people to stop for a few minutes and look. He can't fail to attract our attention with this visually rich show.
He will be holding a meet the artist session at the GPAG on April 16 at 2 p.m. All are welcome.
