Jay Wilson @ Lonsdale Gallery

Group Show “Looking Ahead” til Dec. 13

I like the artist’s commitment to explore his medium.  I love that Wilson’s chosen medium is beautiful in its own right but, rarely used to make art, and in general, has little respect… the lowly toothpick.  A tool most often used to unwedge food caught between one’s teeth.

Common indeed, but in Jay Wilson’s hands the toothpick is dressed up and ready to go to the ball in a pinkburgundydress!Making the toothpick his own, Wilson’s pieces are not only labour intensive to create, these works are sometimes made with the help of friends, but  they also speak to the intricacies of design, engineering and construction. 

They are also fragile.  Isn’t a house made of toothpicks like a house made of cards? This impermanent intention is not so covertly alluded to in “You Can Do It”  where the building blocks of toothpicks are joined by wooden matches that spell out “You Can Do It” out of the elk antlers.

I’ve always liked process art and particularly the kind that ended in aesthetically pleasing results.  I heart Agnes Martin, but Jackson Pollock makes me dizzy.  A large part of the appeal of these pieces is that they are about making, about the very act of construction.  I just like the push and pull of creation and destruction both neatly and messily achieved in these pieces.