Sample : Ethonology/History, Fine Arts/Decorative Arts, Science/Technology © Aganetha Dyck; TOUTE REPRODUCTION INTERDITE / ALL REPRODUCTIONS PROHIBITED
Field Name |
Value |
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Institution |
Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery |
Accession Number |
999.99 |
Discipline |
Fine Arts |
Object Category |
Fine Arts |
Object Sub-category |
Installation |
Object Name |
installation |
Object Type |
scuptural |
Quantity |
1 |
Component Part Names |
dress; cage; shoe (2) |
Number of Components |
4 |
Artist/Maker |
Dyck, Aganetha |
Title |
Flower Girl's Dress |
Begin Date |
1993 |
End Date |
1995 |
Period |
4th quarter of the 20th century |
Unit Linear |
cm |
Height |
231 |
Width |
40.6 |
Depth |
50.8 |
Material |
wax, beeswax; dress; shoes; thread; metal cage |
Technique |
assembled; suspended |
Description |
The installation piece is made up of a girl's dress (shoulder-straps, bodice, and skirt), metal garment bag, shoes, and metal
enclosure. Wires attached to the straps suspend the dress, with garment bag, above shoes placed on the floor. The work is
hung within a three-sided assembly (top, left, and right) of five, square, silver metal grills that carry traces of honeycomb.
The single-strap shoes are low-heeled and reddish in hue. The straps of the dress are decorated with leaf-like shapes, and
the skirt is made with elliptical petal forms. The light-cyan colored bodice has floral embroidery and honeycombs.
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Narrative |
From its very early stages, Aganetha Dyck's artistic career has centred on the transformation of the familiar, domestic object,
from her series of shrunken sweaters to her canned buttons. More recently Dyck has been using bees to transform everything
from cigarettes to shoes. Placing objects in the hive, Dyck waits for the bees to coat them in combs of wax, creating symbols,
sometimes grotesque, of labour, community, and decay. Flower Girl's Dress is part of a series of these honeycombed objects
called The Extended Wedding Party, in which Dyck uses the world of the hive and the Queen Bee to comment on the cult of the
bride and female domesticity. All kinds of wedding paraphernalia, such as dresses, food, and shoes, have been subjected to
the bees' work and then presented individually inside bee excluder screens. In this particular piece the absence of the human
body is highlighted by the empty dress, and the ritual aspects of the wedding brought forward in the archeological, cultish
appearance of the coated clothing, which is also partially spray-painted with gold like an ancient idol. (Martine Fournier,
pour l'exposition Concordia Collects: Selected Art Acquisitions 1974-2000 / Un quart de siècle de collection d'art à Concordia)
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Originating Continent |
North America |
Originating Country |
Canada |
Culture |
Canadian |
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