By Heather McCall
One foot in the Leo Kamen gallery and I know this is much more than just an art exhibit opening. Everywhere I look, I’m reminded of The Beatles. there are two somewhat imposing guys standing near the buffet table, one of them a dead ringer for Ringo and the other a near portrait of Paul. Huddled around one of the $10,000 smears of paint, three aged women dressed in full Beatle-fan regalia are giggling like a bunch of school girls. The more serious art enthusiasts (they were the ones who looked appropriately uncomfortable and outcast) even had that mid-’60’s rock-star quality about them. And if this weren’t enough to establish a theme, Beatles music was playing the background.
Strange. I thought Stuart Sutcliffe was a painter.
It’s a shame, too, that such a spectacle be made of the exhibit because the paintings are actually quite good. Seeing as practically no fuss was made about his talent before the legendary biographical movie Backbeat came out, I figured the art must be crap. But Sutcliffe uses all the energy and anger and moodiness that the movie suggests his life was filled with to create some exciting images. Most of hte work is wild, colourful oils on construction paper, but then there are darker, more brooding mixed-media pieces.
The only complaint—the one that will surely be registered by all aspiring artists who look at the exhibit and say to themselves “You know, I could do that.”—is that these paintings wouldn’t be here if Sutcliffe hadn’t been a member of the most famous rock band in history. Nonetheless, he has proven that he does have some talent, and in a less…festive atmosphere I’m sure the exhibit would’ve left a much more authentic impression.
The art exhibit by that Fifth Beatle-guy runs until March 25 at the Leo Kamen Gallery, 80 Spadina.
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