Pythagoras of the Prairies

"The soul of the pre-Socratic Ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras transmigrates into a variety of beings, many of which dwell on the Canadian prairies.  Emblematic of each individual being’s circumstance a photograph documents an unintended or ephemeral triangular form comprised of objects, of  sunbeams of a shadow, or enigmatic combinations of these.  Most of the sites are unidentifiable, and many of them rather indecipherable concatenations of shade, shapes and rays of light. The intensely saturated colour images seem perhaps to be the consequence of the artist’s irresistible compulsion to perceive triangles anywhere and everywhere. In spite of the laconic philosophical or psychoanalytic phrases that Pythagoras recites in his life as a bug for instance, or as a lizard, a Gimli maiden, even as a cucumber, each situation is absurd and impossible. There is an nihilistic implication regarding human understanding, mirrored in the ambiguity and uninformative imagery of each photograph. The series ends with Pythagoras recounting the details of a dream, a disillusioning conversation between a young Professor of English Literature and Sigmund Freud (who acknowledges he has already been dead more than 80 years and is curious to learn about twenty-first century public life)."

Jeanne Randolph is an autonomous intellectual whose most recent book, My Claustrophobic Happiness, depicts the visions suffered by a materialistic bazillionnaire recluse.  The themes therein are characteristic of her ad lib performances, her “ficto-criticism” mode of writing about contemporary visual art and her cultural criticism, all of which are founded in psychoanalytic theory, philosophy and a plentitude of pop culture phenomena such as American football, aphids, advertising, The Technological Ethos, Las Vegas,  language games, hysteria, hankies, doo-dads, comet Kohoutek, commas, and so on.


Jeanne Randolph is one of Canada's foremost cultural theorists. She is the author of the influential book Psychoanalysis & Synchronized Swimming (1991) as well as Symbolization and Its Discontents (1997), Why Stoics Box (2003), Ethics of Luxury (2007), Shopping Cart Pantheism (2015) and My Claustrophobic Happiness (2020). Dr. Randolph's previous exhibitions at our gallery, Prairie Modernist Noir: The Disappearance of the Manitoba Telephone Booth (2020), and Parking Lot Pandemic (2021) were both presented in conjunction with the CONTACT Photography Festival and with accompanying catalogues. Pythogoras of the Prairies and a new publication form a trilogy, what Dr. Randolph refers to as her ode to Winnipeg, where she dwelt for many years after Toronto and before her current home base of Waterloo, ON.

Dr. Randolph is also known for her curation and as an engaging lecturer, performance artist and musician. In universities and galleries across Canada, England, Australia, and Spain, she has spoken on topics ranging from the aesthetics of Barbie to the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Pythagoras in the Prairies is Randolph's third exhibition at Paul Petro Contemporary Art, where she has also given readings and launched her last two books.