By Kerry Freek
Photos by Rachel Kahn
This week, I spoke with two artists from FARrAGO art collective, Catherine Toth and Cara Bleskie. The word “farrago” means a mixture, a hodgepodge, a medley, and that’s just what the group provides: many fabulous elements thrown into one space. A variety of media populate FARrAGO’s current exhibit: painting, photography, sculpture, textiles and print — all in pursuit of “the correspondence between insulated communities of thought and belief” while “encouraging aesthetic accessibility and navigating esoteric re-entry.”
You can check out FARrAGO work on the third floor of 9 Ossington Avenue from September 19 – October 13, 2007. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Friday 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday & Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
CARA BLESKIE
MONDO: Tell us about yourself and your artwork.
CB: I recently graduated from the Visual Art program at York University, with focus in photography. The performative aspect of the medium, specifically with the modification of familiar spaces and objects into the unexpected and unnatural, is the primary basis of my work.
MONDO: What inspires or ignites you?
CB: It is in common objects and the mundane routine of everyday life that I find my inspiration. Familiar surroundings are easily overlooked, but by deconstructing the banal one can better understand the essence of human nature.
MONDO: What do you expect to come of this collective effort? What does FARrAGO mean to you?
CB: FARrAGO has thus far been a welcome surprise. FARrAGO is an opportunity to glimpse outside the confines of one’s medium and consider all artistic options.
MONDO: Clearly you all have different styles and goals. What do you think unifies the members of FARrAGO?
CB: Even though we are a mish-mash of artists, a number of thematic threads link our interests and artwork together. Most FARrAGO members are trying to remain artistically motivated and challenged. Since most of us have recently graduated, FARrAGO is a means of ensuring that we continue to create.
MONDO: If you weren’t making art, what would you be doing?
CB:Photographing my pets.
CATHERINE TOTH
MONDO: Tell us about yourself and your artwork.
CT: With my photographs, I want to ask people to look at art and specifically photography as a source of factual information. Phil on the Merc is a photo exploration on the distribution of family photographs. The image was taken in 2006 but appears to have all elements that lead us to believe that it could also exist in ‘76. The recreation of making prints from making negatives from previous prints gives a certain loss of image quality resembling the loss of memory. I remember reading somewhere about a performance artist who came from Japan who asked how she could become a recognized artist in the US. Someone told her to “just distribute her pictures to the city”, so I made these small enough to fit in a wallet. They are all contacts, like the old photographs in my grandmother’s drawer.
MONDO: What inspires or ignites you?
CT: Takashi.
MONDO: I understand FARrAGO is in its early stages. What do you expect to come of this collective effort? What does FARrAGO mean to you?
CT: FARrAGO is really just the name of the show, but this specific collective we are hoping to begin, I hope, will be the definition of Contemporary Canadian Artists. Using found materials like the birch bark drawing and images of youth in the news, I hope to look at international events from a young, Canadian perspective.
MONDO: Clearly you all have different styles and goals. But what do you think unifies the members of FARrAGO?
CT: York University, and a strong desire to produce and encourage each other to pursue our art on an everyday basis.
MONDO: If you weren’t making art, what would you be doing?
CT: Learning French, highland dancing, ballet, and playing pool.
