The Globe and Mail - 22.02.2020

Diane Arbus,Ayoungmanandhisgirlfriendwithhotdogsinthepark,N.Y.C.,1971. Gelatin silver print,

Sheet: 50.8 x 40.6 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of Jay Smith, 2016. Copyright © Estate of Diane Arbus.

ONNOWUNTILMAY18.BUYTICKETSATAGO.CA

DIANEARBUS

PHOTOGRAPHS,1956–1971

OrganizedbytheArtGalleryofOntario.

PresentedincollaborationwiththeScotiabankCONTACTPhotographyFestival.

Supporting Sponsor Lead Support

DavidW.Binet

Robin & David Young

Generous Support

Phil Lind & Ellen Roland

JaySmith&LauraRapp

The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation

R2 OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY,FEBRUARY22,2020

WHO
Owen Kydd and Sara Cwynar

WHERE
Henie Onstad Kunstsenter



rom its own picturesque
home, perched on a head-
land in a tony Oslo suburb,
the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter
has set out to take stock of con-
temporary photography. The mu-
seum opened a new triennial fes-
tival on Feb. 21 with the mission
to showcase recent innovations
in camera-based art practices.
And among the 31 international
artists selected for the inaugural
edition rank two exciting home-
grown talents.
The work of Calgary-born, Los
Angeles-based artist Owen Kydd
chisels at the categorical wall sep-
arating video from photograph.
Sidling up to one of his screens,
you could mistake his contribu-
tions to the triennial for simple
snapshots. But what might ini-
tially appear like abstract photog-
raphy, collage or Xerox art is com-
plicated once you notice, for ex-
ample, the small lawn sign in the
corner of one work, flapping in
the wind. Or, in another, the mov-
ing reflection of passing cars in
the luxuriantly polished, deeply

deconstructed auto body of a

BMW.

He is interested, he says, “in the

different ways cameras capture

time”: frozen, slowed, elapsed.

And how software allows us to re-

organize these. Kydd calls the

works “time collages.” His hybrids

feel like an exceedingly contem-

porary form – the cousin of gifs,

Boomerang videos and Live Pho-

tos. Meanwhile, triennial art-

works by Vancouver-born Sara

Cwynar consider the trade and

saturation of images experienced

everyday – both online and off.

Red Film, a watershed work for the

New York-based artist, makes a

dazzling montage from scenes of

dancers, flowers, consumer prod-

ucts and industrial manufacture,

flexing the seductive powers of

the ruby hue. Influenced by the

film, the triptych photograph 96

Pictures of Sophieshows the epo-

nymous Sophie, who models for a

well-known Montreal-based on-

line fashion retailer, recreating

the three poses the website uses

to display a garment. Over these

are collaged dozens of the thou-

sands of such photos of Sophie

that exist online. It is an over-

whelming mass of near-identical

images of one human being. And

the reality, increasingly, of not

just models, but anyone with a

camera.

Cwynar’s art reveals a culture

evermore deeply, maddeningly in

love with image. And for her out-

look, Henie Onstad curator Su-

sanne Ostby Saether calls Cwynar

“one of the most interesting pho-

tographers of the millennial gen-

eration.”

SpecialtoTheGlobeandMail

Arttrip:
anadianartistsabroad

SaraCwynar’sart,suchasherpiece96PicturesofSophie,revealsaculturethatisdeeply,maddeninglyinlovewithimage.HenieOnstadcurator

SusanneOstbySaethersaysCwynaris‘oneofthemostinterestingphotographersofthemillennialgeneration.’SARACWYNAR

CHRISHAMPTON

Before you turn on your television,

iPad or laptop this weekend and

drown in options, The Globe and

Mail presents three best cinematic

bets that are worth your coveted

downtime – no commute to the

movie theatre required.

ENLIGHTENED(CRAVE)

Well, it finally happened: the un-

paralleled Laura Dern won an Os-

car, her first, for her role as a sexy

divorce lawyer inMarriage Story.

It was a fine performance, but her

win felt symbolic, a statue for her

entire career, which has hit a ze-

nith in the past couple years. If

you’re new to the Dern-iverse, or

primarily associate her with Da-

vid Lynch orJurassic Park, I beg of

you: watchEnlightened. The HBO

comedy/drama that premiered

in 2011 stars Dern as Amy Jellicoe,

a corporate stooge-turned-whis-

tle-blower. Created by Mike

White, who also plays Amy’s

meek co-worker,Enlightenedis

gorgeous and multifaceted – the

rare series that manages to be se-

rious without being dark and

gloomy. The show kicks off when

Amy is sent to a corporate rehab

facility after suffering a nervous

breakdown, and upon her return

to the office (in a demoted posi-

tion), she stubbornly insists on

optimism and idealism in a plain-

ly soul-crushing work environ-

ment.Enlightenedis beautiful,

but it’s a heartbreaker.

TWOLOVERS(AMAZONPRIME)

Here’s another opportunity to

see a newly minted Oscar-winner

in a different light. Joaquin Phoe-

nix may have won for his bom-

bastic performance inJoker, but

his efforts in James Gray’s 2008

featureTwo Loversare far more

effective. The film centres on a

sad sack of a man named Leo-

nard Kraditor (Phoenix) who

lives with his parents in Brighton

Beach and works in his father’s

dry-cleaning store. Leonard clear-

ly has problems – the movie

opens with a suicide attempt –

but Gray declines to name them.

UnlikeJokerdirector and co-writ-

er Todd Phillips, Gray doesn’t put

mental illness in a frame. Instead,

it permeates the atmosphere of

Two Lovers, in which Leonard is

caught between two women –

the lovely brunette daughter of

his father’s business partner (Vi-

nessa Shaw), and the volatile

blonde who lives upstairs (Gwy-

neth Paltrow). Isabella Rossellini

is characteristically excellent as

Leonard’s sympathetic mother.

The film is like the anti-Joker:

What it lacks in fireworks and

fight scenes it makes up for in

feeling.

THEGOODFIGHT(CBSALL

ACCESS)

All right, the Oscars are over.

Awards season is over. Democra-

cy is over – wait, this took a turn.

Seriously, though, folks, if your

outrage needs an outlet, plug it

right intoThe Good Fight.

A spinoff of the long-running

CBS dramaThe Good Wife, this

one centres on D.C. lawyer Diane

Lockhart (our lord and saviour

Christine Baranski) as she slowly

spirals into a paranoid rage. The

series, which premiered in 2017

and returns for a fourth season

sometime in the spring, kicks off

with Donald Trump’s inaugura-

tion, and it’s the rare show to

benefit from its explicit engage-

ment with real-life politics. Plot-

wise,The Good Fightis driven by

the addlebrained logic of the

Trump administration – it veers

and swerves into unexpected

places and rarely stops to catch

its breath. In one season, Diane

starts microdosing on psychedel-

ics; in another, she joins the #re-

sistance, literalized as a group of

female vigilantes. There are no

practical solutions here, but like a

good hallucinogenic, it’ll take the

edge off.

SpecialtoTheGlobeandMail

:hattoîatchon
raveb

maôonand
Sthisîee–end

LARAZARUM

OPINION

FULLSTREAMAHEAD

LauraDernstarsinEnlightened,arareseriesthatmanagestobeseriouswithoutbeingdarkandgloomy.

TheGoodFight,aspinoffoftheCBSdramaTheGoodWife,veersand

swervesintounexpectedplacesandrarelystopstocatchitsbreath.

JoaquinPhoenixmay

havewon[anOscar]for

hisbombastic

performanceinJoker,

buthiseffortsinJames

Gray’s2008featureTwo

Lovers are far more

effective.

| ARTS&BOOKS