Semiotics of Leisure: Shinobu Akimoto, Terri Fidelak, Simon Fuh, Gerald Jessop
When an artist does a jigsaw puzzle, cans homemade marmalade, seeks out a rave or basks on the beach, do these leisure activities become work? Artwork, that is.
Semiotics of Leisure probes the dual nature of art as a leisure activity for many but a profession for artists – and promotes the subversive qualities of pleasure for artists and viewers.
Artists Shinobu Akimoto (Japan), Terri Fidelak (SK), Simon Fuh (SK/ON) and Gerald Jessop (SK) challenge the notion of leisure as "anti-work" by using leisure activities as the subjects and methods of their art practices.
The seemingly frivolous subject of leisure prompts us to question the concepts that shape our world. Semiotics, the study of meaning creation, reveals leisure as fundamentally anticapitalistic and non-value-creating.
We live in an era of global capitalist culture; our language is one of commodities. We understand our cultural values and individual identities through the products we consume. In the hands of artists, commodities like puzzle pieces, orange rinds, Uber rides and beach toys become tools to dismantle capitalism.
This exhibition, featuring artists from our province and Japan, demonstrates the universality of creativity and recreation as methods of resistance.
2024May 24
2024Jul 27
Art Gallery of Regina2420 Elphinstone StreetRegina SKS4T 7S7 Map