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Inside the Box at the Whippersnapper Gallery
Outside the new Whippersnapper Gallery, at 594B Dundas Street West.
Out from under the door of this black and white box cascades a sewn collection of colourful flags. Cold noses are pressed to the display case–like window to grab a view of eviscerated cats and decomposing produce. Inside, the artist makes loving adjustments to the corpse of a city pigeon. Welcome to the new Whippersnapper Gallery.
Always unconventionally artistic, often musical, and even delving into the literary, it wasn’t too long ago that we were hearing rumours of the Whippersnapper’s demise. But an injection of funding from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), and an evolution into an artist-run centre sees this Whippersnapper grown up, slimmed down, and ready for action.
“This space—you can’t really just fill this space and call it a show,” explains co-director and curator Adrian Dilena. “There’s a lot of consideration that has to go into the composition of the show and therefore it does appeal to a different…place where an artist might be at.” Dilena’s counterpart, Joshua Barndt, squints through a winter afternoon sunset that is flooding the small square room. “[The] demographic that we are working with,” he explains, “people need really focused exhibits that take into consideration their ongoing practice, what they are exploring, dealing with issues in the form and materials….it takes a focused kind of show, which is sort of what we are trying to do.”
Faces at the window of the Whippersnapper Gallery.
Always a struggle, the funding is not nearly sufficient for their needs. While most artist-run centres have multiple levels of funding, with no admin staff the two don’t even pay themselves as they struggle with the OAC’s refrain of “artist fees, artist fees.” Yet both praise the Council’s invaluable support. Going through the funding process, explains Brandt, “has made us confront some issues that were pretty important, in terms of how we wanted to think about artistic integrity, how we’re displayed, how we’re thinking of audiences.”
The two young artists have been involved with the gallery since its inception, but the move into curation allows them to take on a collaborative role with the artists they show, where before they were often there just to mop up afterwards. “Now we are active in the process of bringing the work from a base idea of the artist to something that is formally put together into a public display,” says Barndt. “They’ll give us a basic proposal, but then we’ll discuss ways…to make it fit into the framework of our space.”
Part of this facilitation involves thinking about public interaction. On the border of Kensington Market and Chinatown, the little window-box room arrests residents of both neighbourhoods, and the gallery is looking for someone to regularly translate their written materials into Chinese.
Going against a trend in Toronto towards two-dimensional painting and photography, Dilena explains that the gallery’s attention will be on performance, installation, and other experimental forms. The gallery’s most recent artist, Nader Hasan, draws both praise and controversy for his work in new media—that is, taxidermied found-dead strays and the material flotsam of urban life, each item placed with reverential attention, and each with its own story. But with the lack of square footage and the presence of delicate installations, is there a place for the gallery’s rock and roll roots?
Adrian Dilena and Joshua Barndt, co-directors/curators of the Whippersnapper Gallery.
“One of the reasons why we moved to this space was ‘cause it’s sort of a very physical way for us to scale down certain parts of the operation, where we just as a matter of necessity cannot do crazy punk shows in here anymore,” explains Dilena. What before was a means of paying rent, musical programming will continue to exist, but seen “through the lens of contemporary art consideration.” Not to fret, continues Dilena, “I am really looking forward to having a big Whippersnapper party again.” The lack of space at the gallery forces the work outwards, both into the street and into collaboration with other venues. Right now, artist talks are held at Function 13 around the corner, and plans for the summer include a neighbourhood-wide multidisciplinary music and installation project.
With Hasan hailing from Montreal, and upcoming installation artist Kyla Chevrier arriving December 6 by way of Ottawa and New York, the two curators see a larger role for artists working outside Toronto. With as many as half of the artists coming from outside the city, Dilena and Barndt have an opportunity to bring fresh inspiration to the Toronto scene, while fulfilling their mandate of supporting local artists.
Six years ago a bunch of ambitious young artists noticed a hole in the Toronto art scene and worked hard to fill it, having a blast in the process. What role is the gallery filling today? “We’re really happy to be offered a space that allows [for experimental] artists, ‘cause some of those artists don’t necessarily only want to be making paintings,” says Barndt. “They have ideas that expand past that.”
Dilena continues: “What this gallery is doing as an organization is presenting a really interesting bridge between people who are making artwork and established galleries…because we don’t have a financial interest in the artist, and we’re doing stuff and saying ‘Don’t worry about making it saleable. Don’t worry about making it something that someone can carry home. Do what you think is best, get your ideas out the best, and present these ideas to people.’”
Photos by Nancy Paiva/Torontoist.