TORONTO – Sonia Boyce’s colors and sounds sparkle feel your own way At the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), it’s both forgiving and cagey. Originally held at the British Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale feel your own way Continuing the artist’s interest in multi-sensory art and her focus on black women artists. Born in London in 1962, Boyce was associated with the British Black Arts Novement of the 1980s, along with artists such as Lubaina Himid and Claudette Johnson. For this iteration of the show, the two gallery spaces are clad with metallic and multi-colored patterns and suspended geometric sculptures, as well as music memorabilia, and are outfitted with irregularly shaped mirror seats, such as silver icebergs floating on the floor.
The atmosphere evokes an Afro and dance club aesthetic, setting the stage for the video featuring four black British female musicians – Jacques Dankworth MBE, Poppy Ajudha, Sofia Jernberg and Tanita Tikaram – recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios . The most mesmerizing part of the show is the first room, where videos of the singer on four screens create a cacophony of sounds Try to find harmony. More screens in the next gallery allow the soundtrack to swell throughout the space. Watching each singer conveys a sense of intimacy, as if we’re enjoying their private studio sessions and getting a glimpse into their artistic process.
The show reflects Beuys’s collaborative instincts and openness to spontaneity and improvisation. In an interview last October She explained that the singers had just met and the video showed the first 20 minutes of the performance, which had not been rehearsed. (The exhibition text notes vocal practice instruction from composer Errollyn Wallen.) It’s also a warm tribute to her collaborators, shifting the focus from Boyce She is a singer-songwriter herself, serving as the show’s star and artistic producer.
The explosion of color and sound was a buzzing energy tucked into a relatively cramped museum, but within its alcove-like space the show was tighter than I expected. At the same time, it is not removed from the rest of the museum to provide full immersion. Given Beuys’s stature as an artist (including a British DBE title), feel your own way Worthy of larger gallery space and even higher maximalism. The audience should feel that they have entered another world in AGO. That’s not to discount the show’s artistic merit or sensory pleasure – Boyce does a great job of seeing the vibrancy of the audio with vibrant surroundings – but, amidst the hardwood floors and bright lighting, one gets a sense of what’s going on inside the museum. The consciousness of the gallery has never been completely erased. feel your own way It’s worth seeing, first and foremost, the collaborative spirit of five black female artists. But given the kaleidoscopic nature of Beuys’s universe, the next version should always be there to transport visitors.
Sonia Boyce: Feeling Your Way Continues at the Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Canada) until April 6. The exhibition is organized by the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art and curated by Dominique Fontaine and Miguel A. López, together with Curatorial Assistant Emilie Croning.
