Raccoon on the corner of Kensington and Balwin, Toronto.
Artist David Woodward and I have started a “disintegrating art” project. The idea is simple: we meet up once a week, scavenge materials from Chinatown and our own leftovers, work for four hours, and put the art in a public place.
The collaboration gives us an opportunity to learn from each others’ art practices. The addition of haste and thrift to the project is partially from necessity, but also from an urge to be less precious about our art.
Our first project, a giant raccoon poking out of an window frame, came together over two sessions. I did the raccoon head, David built the hand and the window sash. We both painted it, picking up techniques from each other.
We borrowed a wobbly ladder and hung “Rocky” on a telephone pole in Kensington Market. It was a frigid and blustery day so getting the sculpture in place was tricky. The staple gun jammed, of course. David resorted to scavenging nails from the pole and hammering them in with the butt end of the staple gun.
Check out the raccoon out on the corner of Kensington and Baldwin before the corner of a delivery truck turns it back into recycled cardboard.
Production sketches.
Cardboard racoon.
Testing the window frame for German Expressionist angles.
Ready to mount. SWIZZLEMACHEN is a portmanteau of our creative handles.
Racoon chilling up a pole in Kensington Market.