small dead woman Exhibition catalogue, Kevin Yates, Diana George and Charles Maude, published by ArtSpeak Gallery, Vancouver

I recently saw Kevin Yates’ “small dead woman” at Toronto’s YYZ gallery, where its art world charm seemed rather forced, since in essence it just looks like some child’s forgotten doll. This catalogue is part of Artspeak’s series of matching up a text with a piece that has been exhibited in the gallery – in this case the accompanying text is by Diana George and Charles Maude, and entitled “Last Seen”. It expounds upon the unfortunate habit prostitutes have of getting murdered, and their bodies being found in public wilderness. The attempt is made to create meaning in this arc of being “last seen” in urbia and “found” in nature, ignoring the rather obvious fact that brush is good for hiding large things like bodies. I for one don’t believe there is a need to generate metaphorical significance out of the pragmatic practices of psychopaths. This book came in the unusual format of a file folder, which was aesthetically attractive, but makes for an awkward read. Given the binding is one of those slidy bar things I suppose the idea would be that I as the reader could disassemble it. However like all art in galleries which we are invited to touch and decline (due to tradition of not touching anything) I didn’t want to take it apart. Summary: food for thought with poor ergonomics. (Timothy Comeau)