123 Sense
May 28th- July 9th, 2005
David Yonge
Jean Klimack
Tania Lewis
Through humour laced with unease, David Yonge, Jean Klimack and Tania Lewis present geographic landscape visions of how sense is created from or imagined in relation to daily occurences, myths and situations.
David  Yonge is a British Columbia artist known for his extreme performances portraying various masculine characters who inevitably engage in violence -- the mutilation of objects, as well as his own self. Yonge's performances, including, I like Canada and Canada likes me, hHead, and Yellow Diablo vs. 1980 Camaro, are intense, physical, sexual and violent investigations of masculinity and bravado that aim for victory and inevitably end with failure. Throughout these performances Yonge deconstructs the performance of masculinity as rooted in sexual and violent impulses that become motivating forces for every simple or profound gesture that he makes. Yonge's work often examines confrontations within the interior self and the effects of contemporary culture from multiple perspectives.
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In his video Redneck/Redneck, Yonge presents an urban myth whereby everyone in life has a double and if you ever have the misfortune tio encounter your double, only one of you can survive. Frought with dark humour, an unsettling intrigue and suspense, the social morals, banalisation and justification of aggressive beghaviour take precedence over the mythical aspect of the story.
 Jean Klimack has a BFA from the University of Manitoba, and has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts and University of Manitoba. Her work has been included in many group exhibitions at the Othergallery (Winnipeg), MCAD Gallery (Minneapolis), The Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg), the Anna Leonowens Gallery (Halifax), Frances Wolfson Gallery (Miami), Godfrey Dean Art Gallery (Yorkton) to name a few. She recently had a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (Brandon). Klimack was involved with M.A.W.A. on various committees and the Board for several years also held the position of administrative coordinator at Ace Art Inc. She is currently working towards a MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Klimack's large format photography work chew-by-numbers explore the physical and metaphorical attributes of chewing gum. The relationship between gum, time, and pastimes explored, by substituting gum for paint in a paint-by-number set she renders the landscapes more vibrant through the eclectic colours of the gum. An attraction, repulsion tension emerges through the technique referencing so simplistically body fluids, functions and the passing of time.
Tania Lewis originally from Newfoundland, lives and works in New York. A graduate of the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design, her drawing series The Snowbird Series comment on urban pioneering and the transitional relationships created through the experience of gentrification in New York City.
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