The Condition (Not the Content) of Hamilton’s Art

Earlier this week, when Terence Dick invited me to join the contributors to Akimblog as a representative of the Hamilton art community, he did so with the caution that I would need to find a way of writing that would remain ‘different and distinct - yet somehow retain your breezy, intelligent, personable, and critical style.’ Knowing full well the potential clashes of interests that can muddle the work-a-day life of any critical writer/artist/curator, I was quick to reassure Terence with an impromptu code of ethics that would guide my practice as a blogger for Akimbo: basically, what gets written for Akimblog stays with Akimblog, with the determination that I would provide precisely what would be most relevant to Akimbo’s subscribers - in short, critical commentary on the exhibitions being shown in Hamilton.

So today, when I set out to view the exhibitions that would be forming the content of my first Akimblog entry - the TH&B group show at 270 Sherman, Andrew McPhail at Transit Gallery and a smattering of exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Hamilton - I found myself entertaining a certain degree of trepidation. If my critical response to the content of these shows was already slated for Akimblog, what did that leave me to comment upon in my own blog here?

As it turned out, quite a bit. Such as my complete and utter disdain for and disappointment in the AGH experience.

Many of you will be aware that the AGH has been subject to a somewhat recent renovation - an event that took place sometime during my absence in the UK - and now presents a slick, shiny facade onto King Street as opposed to its former status as a hulking modernist bunker with no visible entrance. It was a flawed institution back when I was still a student in Hamilton, but had made major inroads during that period by securing sponsorship enough to offer free admission to all its galleries, and was generally an unpretentious place to view both contemporary exhibitions and the gallery’s not insignificant historical collection.

Seemingly, in its vast efforts to become more visually welcoming, AGH has lost the plot and become one of the coldest, most intimidating art viewing venues I’ve ever had the displeasure of visiting. This is my third visit since moving back to Hamilton last summer, but my first as one of the privileged few (and boy, do I mean few) paying out to enter the hallowed halls of the first floor galleries. On my previous unpaid visits, I was restricted to the second floor and the elevator I used to get there; the stairwell containing the gallery’s permanent display of their William Blair Bruce collection is considered paid admission space and was helpfully blocked by a security guard. I’d hoped to be spared the guard’s stalking tendencies once I’d paid for the right to look at the art, but he remained in the corner of my eye all the same, resplendent in blue and black uniform with a belt weighted down with a radio and other unidentified security-related devices. Which was ridiculous, of course, because he was shorter than I was and I totally could have taken the over-equipped twerp in a fight.

Pre-renovation, I recall being stalked instead by unassuming young women in casual black, people I would actually choose to call ‘invigilators’ rather than ’security guards’, one of whom was really quite friendly and engaged me in a nice spot of conversation about the work on display in her particular area. On the whole, they were a welcoming, well-mannered lot that didn’t make one want to look over one’s shoulder six times before daring to interact with the interactive Ken Gregory sculptures. By that point in my viewing of Cheap Meat Dreams and Acorns, I was smacking around those wired ping-pong balls for spite rather than to hear the computer-generated sounds they produced.

And that is precisely the sort of response that would never make it into Akimblog, if only because an experience like that diminishes the otherwise rich vein of activity happening in this city. So if you want distinct content, you can visit Akimblog for my thoughts on the Ken Gregory exhibit along with several others, but the commentary here will always be of a different flavour.

FRESH / LATEST POSTS

Archives

Blogroll