Biker

Paul Petro Contemporary Art is pleased to present Biker, the third exhibition in Toronto-based artist Andrew Harwood's Transit Trilogy. There is a concurrent exhibition, Bikes, in the project room at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, February 4 - March 26, 2006 with a reception on February 4, 7-9pm. Here's a few words from Andrew Harwood on these shows:

Biker & Bikes

These exhibitions are an ongoing component of a series devoted to transportation and the exploration and subversion of pop culture masculine identities. (Prior exhibitions include Trucker, 2004 and Last Spike,2003). This post-identity investigation portrays the fact that it is not necessarily who you are anymore, but how you arrive. Harley-Davidson was the first corporation in history to have produced items from baby-wear to their newer coffin lines, making corporate logos literally available from cradle to grave.

At Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Biker has a new series of small-scaled ceiling mobiles entitled Traffic. Small masonite motorcycles will be covered in glitter and sequins, joined with metal wire and attached to disco ball motors creating an overhead pattern of spinning motorcycles. A short video referencing '70's biker movies, entitled Bikers is edited in a stroboscopic way and exhibited in a fashion that will also light the overhead mobiles.

At the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art Bikes includes a major sculptural work called Scorpio Spinning which consists of three actual motorcycles covered with sequins. One of these sequined motorcycles will be exhibited on a slowly spinning platform - commonly used at auto and motorcycle trade shows. This is the largest sculptural work that I have produced to date. Helmet Head will be a ceiling-mounted sculpture made up of five black motorcycle helmets covered in toy-like googly eyes. A short video loop, called Ann-Margaret as Andrew Harwood circa 1973, will complete the exhibition using found footage from '70's motorcycle movies. Ann-Margaret as Andrew Harwood circa 1973 will be projected onto a screen composed of sequined fabric creating a shimmering effect from the video.As gasoline becomes more even more rare and expensive, as in recent days, a rider's status will either be elevated or denigrated depending on a viewer's politics - a la 'Road Warrior'. Perhaps these shows are in part a tribute to a slowly dying way of life?

Andrew Harwood
2006