Dean Baldwin, Not Still Short Life at Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects

Dean Baldwin

Not Still Short Life

October 13 – 28, 2012

Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects is pleased to present Not Still Short Life a single channel video work by Canadian artist Dean Baldwin which he describes as a contemporary reboot of 16th &17th century Vanitas paintings. Shot and produced in 2008 at The Banff Centre, it is presented here in Toronto for the first time, after a premiere in September 2012 in Montreal.

Like the traditional Dutch or Flemish oil, Not Still Short Life is a visual feast of overripe fruit, spirit bottles, glasses, swords and seafood arranged alongside commonplace objects, as offered to a party of guests at some affair or celebration.

Not Still Short Life features footage culled from hours of live tape which originally documented the indulgence and resulting actions of four individuals consuming a tableau of earthy treats in an evening’s conviviality. Eight minutes of footage is all that remains after the incidences of human presence within the frame of the camera have been removed. What lingers is an animated, playful and humourous memento mori of the unseen revelry that is anything but "still".

Artist Dean Baldwin’s installation, photo and video work often employs food, drink and social practices that actively engage the audience and invite participation. The artist obtained a BFA from York University in Toronto and a Masters of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal. His work has been exhibited at Centre Clark in Montreal, the Art Gallery of Ontario, No. 9: Contemporary Art & Environment, JMB Gallery Hart House and Katharine Mulherin Contemporary in Toronto, Space Studios in London, Volta 5, Basel (with Katharine Mulherin) and White Box in New York. His work was included in the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art’s Triennial and the Oh, Canada exhibition at Mass MoCA. In 2013, he will be artist in residence at Darling Foundry (Montreal) exchange program in Mumbai, India. 

The artist would like to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Not Still Short Life, 2008

Single Channel HD Video

8 minutes 31 seconds

Edition of 5

Shot in studio at the Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta.Voices: Zarah Ackerman, Amélie Guérin and Scott Rogers.