Artist Judy Chicago Brings Smoke to the Toronto Biennale of Art

On Saturday, Toronto’s Sugar Beach is covered in smoke.

As part of Canada’s leading contemporary visual arts event Toronto Biennale of ArtThe acclaimed artist Judy Chicago presents her famous “Smoke Sculpture” for the first time north of the border.

Widely known for her multimedia installation Dinner party— —Triangular banquets set up in 39 places. Each represents an important woman in history. Based in New Mexico, 82-year-old Chicago is active in a wide range of genres, from paints to fireworks. Her work is part of a major collection around the world, including the British Museum, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Canadian fans will be able to enjoy two Chicago works this summer. As part of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photo Festival, Chicago’s works dating back to the 1970s are on display in a retrospective exhibition. Natural world Until July 9th at the Daniel Faria Gallery in Toronto.

Her work is often environmentally themed and has been relevant and talked about in the climate crisis. Chicago’s smoke sculptures are temporary, but there is no doubt that they will leave long-lasting traces after the smoke disappears.

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Your smoke sculpture dates back to the late 1960s. What made you start working with pyrotechnics?

In 1968, I worked with a group of artists to introduce the street environment of Pasadena, California, where I lived at the time. Thousands of people gathered in the city and set up camps on the streets for the New Year’s Rose Bowl Parade. I thought it would be fun to do something on New Year’s Eve.

My contribution was to cloud the streets with a fog machine and create two giant color wheels on top of the large Klieg lights placed at both ends. The fog has risen, the color wheel has rotated, and the fog has become multicolored. I found this attractive.

I’ve already spent a lot of time developing color systems with the idea of ​​communicating emotional states in color. However, the colors of my paintings and sculptures were included in a minimalist format. After the street environment, I wanted to work more with colored smoke. So I learned about fireworks and since then I have published more than 50 atmospheric and smoke sculptures in various places.

You first exhibited your work in Toronto over 30 years ago and say you’re a Toronto fan. what do you like?

I love Toronto and date back to the early 1980s. Dinner party I was at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Since then, I’ve visited Toronto several times and have always felt that the city and waterfront are beautiful, clean and lacking in American horror.

What was the inspiration behind the smoke sculpture in “Tribute to Toronto”?

I chose purple, blue, green, yellow and white for this performance because I wanted to use colors related to the environment, water and sky. Ignite them in a carefully designed order so that they can fuse with the wind and mix the colors in the air.

My smoke sculpture is site-specific and I was very excited when Toronto Biennale Curator Candice Hopkins invited me to present it to a barge on the water. I’ve never done it with a barge.

Did this new way of presenting your work create any challenges?

The fact that the barge is 100 feet away from the shore presented a challenge. It’s a way to make sure that the work is visually present to the viewers of the shoreline. To help, I decided to create a scaffolding structure that would create multiple positions for colored smoke. This allows horizontal, vertical and complex color mixing from the front to the back of the scaffold and from the barge deck.

It is important to understand the time it takes to assemble these parts. We have been working on this sculpture for over two years. It also includes location selection and smoke and color testing.

The weather and wind may be capricious. Do I have to give up some control as an artist when dealing with smoke? How would you describe it?

Controls are not what I am interested in. Change is a better word because I believe that art can educate, inspire and promote change. The first step is personal transformation. Perhaps that’s why many people have said that my work has changed their lives.

A few years ago, people began to realize that my work was challenging what was called Land Art, especially what was done by some of my male companions. Their work permanently manipulates the environment and spoils the appearance, but my work is not permanent and is intensely aimed at illuminating the beauty of nature by blending with light, wind and sky. The purpose is to create a moment of beauty.

Your exhibition at the Daniel Faria Gallery is described as asking viewers to “think about their destiny because it is related to the treatment of other species and planets.” What can people expect?

In my exhibition, I can see various works in which my interest in ecosystems plays a major role. It starts with “thinking about trees”. For months I studied, painted, and thought about trees and our dependence on trees. Still, it is devastated by fires caused by clear-cutting and climate change. We ignore what we currently know to be creatures with a complex network of interactions.

There is also a series of paintings depicting the various endangered creatures of the Lower Rio Grande Valley where we live and the porcelain “Before It’s Too Late” painted in porcelain. Also on display is my last major project, “The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction,” a piece of bronze, ceramic and glass.

How did COVID influence your art?

The gallery show has a suite of 12 prints titled “Garden Smokes” that my husband and photographer Donald Woodman and I went to during a pandemic. At that time, due to fire regulations, it was not possible to make larger smoke sculptures in New Mexico. Instead, as a metaphor for the blockade of COVID-19, I created a small one using the limited space in the garden.

What other projects are you currently working on?

There is too much work. In addition to the ongoing studio work and replies to the performance workshops that began in the 1970s, I’m announcing the 50th anniversary of my first major feminist art installation, “Womanhouse,” in Los Angeles. I teach at Cal Arts. Over the decades that followed, there were countless projects based on the “Woman House” around the world. Recently, a tribute exhibition in Los Angeles and a tribute exhibition in Detroit will soon begin, featuring female artists of color.

Given the changing understanding of gender since the 1970s, this expression of “Womanhouse” in Belem, New Mexico is entitled “Wo / Manhouse”. It was open to New Mexico artists throughout the gender spectrum. We received 90 proposals in 14 rooms. The selected artists are working hard on their installation.