Peter Lojewski

*Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas* brings together a variety of works by five Vancouver-based artists whose creative methods "show" violence, implicate danger or threaten retribution.

In the entrance foyer, Althea Thauberger's large photo-laminate poster depicts a young woman. This woman is the subject of Thauberger's *not afraid to die*, a single-channel video at the entrance to the B.C. Binning Gallery. The video was shot in front of a diorama inside BC's Provincial Museum in Victoria, and the soundtrack includes a song sung by the artist. Also in the B.C. Binning Gallery, Michelle Normoyle's ongoing series of photographs, *After Play*, document the chaos of her child's room after play with her toys. Peter Lojewski's occupation as a licensed practical nurse provides subjects for a series of roughly drawn but eloquent paintings depicting hospital wards. Other works invoke revenge fantasies against disparate mythic and historic figures, personal portraits and ruminations on environmental issues.

Pasted to the exterior of the gallery's windows, as well as on hoardings and poster boards around the city, are posters by Alex Morrison. *Patterer's Diary* is a two -part work that features a selection of short autobiographical incidents recalled in the first person past tense, accompanied by a third-person gloss on the events narrated in the poster, which can be seen in the B.C. Binning Gallery.

In the Alvin Balkind Gallery Kevin Schmidt's *Long Beach Led Zep* is a ten minute video featuring the artist playing the song "Stairway to Heaven” on an electric guitar while standing on Vancouver Island's Long Beach. As the palindromic title suggests, *Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas* draws parallels between depictions and suggestions of violence, and the impulses of mastery and aesthetic delight with which they often coexist or stem from. By expanding on these themes, the exhibition focuses on aestheticizing depictions in acts of control, catharsis and elegy.

A series of framed paintings are mounted on the gallery wall behind the sculpture. The sculpture depicts a white apartment building, on which a blue helicopter is landing. 

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Twelve framed paintings are mounted on the gallery wall behind a sculpture. The sculpture depicts a white apartment building, on which a blue helicopter is landing.  

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Texts printed on sheets of colourful paper cover the entire windows on CAG’s first floor. Some papers are much larger than the others. They are pink, yellow, blue, green, or white.

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Many sheets of colourful paper cover the entire windows on CAG’s first floor. Some papers are much larger than the others. They are pink, yellow, blue, green, or white.

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Ten coloured photographs are mounted on the gallery wall. Many of those images depict colourful objects piled up in a room. This room has a white floor and a pink wall.

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Many sheets of colourful paper cover the entire windows on CAG’s first floor. They are illuminated at night. Blue, yellow, and green colours are visible from afar. 

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A CRT TV is placed on a pedestal installed in the middle of the gallery space. The video played on the TV shows abstract shapes. Some paintings mounted on the wall are visible behind the TV.

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This photograph shows a facade of a building that stands by a street. The building is orange and many fliers are attached to the surface of this building. A bear tree stands in front of the building. 

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A single-channel video is projected on the wall inside a darkened gallery space. The video depicts a person playing a guitar on a seashore. The blue ocean is visible behind the person. 

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This photograph documents the entrance of the exhibition titled Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas. A photograph of a woman standing in a forest is installed below the exhibition title. 

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Althea Thauberger, Kevin Schmidt, Michelle Normoyle, Peter Lojewski, Alex Morrison

Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas

*Public 28* is a journal of contemporary cultural issues co-published in 2002 by the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; and Public Access, Toronto to accompany the group exhibition *Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas* at CAG November 15, 2002 – January 5, 2003.

This issue, *Public #28: Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas* is edited by Reid Shier and William Wood. The journal includes a CD along with contributions from Rodney Graham, Phillip McCrum, Althea Thauberger, Michael Turner, Geoffrey Farmer, Marina Roy, Michael Euyung Oh, William Wood, Ron Terada, Steven Shearer, Kevin Schmidt, Peter Culley, Reid Shier, Peter Mahovsky, Peter Hudson, Neil Wedman, Amy Pederson.

Peter Lojewski

Exhibitions

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