LIQUIDATION

Liquidation
CAM MACDONALD

360 GALLERY preview: http://www.dylansurridge.com/Liquidation/Liquidation.htm

Liquidation is an exhibition that examines the issues of over fishing, globalization and food security. It imagines a world and can it be far off? where commercial fisheries have collapsed, and in a final effort to turn a profit, anonymous corporations have caught, canned and now offer for sale all that is left in the sea.

And what is left is not pretty. Neither salmon nor tuna are found in this store; instead, spooky deep sea creatures, assorted garbage fish and tide pool dwellers comprise this final shipment of marine protein. Their pathetic, battered forms stare through dead eyes on labels that don´t attempt to hide the reality of the industrial food system. Commercial species are absent from the inventory, represented instead by pseudo fish: products made of texturized soy protein and fish flavouring.

The copy on the can labels is upbeat, a parody of contemporary product copy. It happily reveals questionable qualities even dangers of the fish while cheerily stressing their gastronomic appeal. Dedicated label readers will find contaminants like lead, mercury and PCBs listed in the nutrition facts box along with percentages of daily (deadly?) values.

This installation speaks to the modern day paradox of buying food that we know may not be good for our health. Whether it is non-organic food, food that contains preservatives and toxins, or food that was produced from the sweat of exploited workers, most of us buy products daily that may harm ourselves or others. Yet we do it anyway.

Liquidation does not complain nor condemn–it simply reports on how things are. And it does so with a sense of humour, from the way in which these unlikely candidates for our dinner plates are depicted, to the absurdity of suggesting that they be eaten despite a long list of possible, harmful ingredients. In a world where the state of affairs might cause one to cry, the artist has clearly chosen to laugh, all the while recognizing the state of the biosphere, the ramifications of a globalized food system and the choices we all make–or choose not to make–as consumers.

Cameron MacDonald is a local artist whose practice, rooted in a love of natural forms, speaks to the current state of our environment and the industrialized world. His interest in fish originated in his youth, growing up on the West Coast and volunteering at the Vancouver Public Aquarium. His treatments of this subject range from his 2005 work A Fish Story, a 35 foot by 12 foot fantasy fish drawn on 500 feet of thermal fax paper, to the present show which features more conventionally sized pen and ink drawings.
OPENING Friday 24 Nov, 7pm. 2006.
Closing Event and Final Sale Friday, Dec 15th 8pm-11pm
http://www.cammacdonald.ca

The Globe and Mail article:
November 24, 2006.
MOCK DISHES ODD FISHES

Imagine tucking into a hagfish and grunt sculpin sandwich with ratfish soup and a side of Pacific spiny lumpsucker. The mock dishes reflect the fishy dystopia envisioned by local artist and environmental activist Cameron MacDonald. And they're all sold in Liquidation, a Vancouver art exhibition that coincides with a recent Dalhousie University report that fish species will be extinct within 40 years or so if the global fishing industry continues mass deep-sea trawling..
MacDonald has transformed Little Mountain Studios (the former home of the Butchershop gallery) into a grocery store for Liquidation. "It started as this absurd idea of a future when commercial fisheries are dead and corporations are extracting every last fish in the ocean," Cameron says as he takes time off from gluing his fish labels onto 1,400 cans. "Wouldn't it be funny if nameless corporations took rare, hard-to-catch fish species and canned them for consumers?".
Shelves are packed with Cameron's imaginary products made from existing species, mostly local fish, some of which he learned about while working at the Vancouver Aquarium as a teen. The products bear pen-and-ink renderings that are fascinating but hardly pretty or palatable, adding to the gross-out factor..
Take the ratfish soup produced by PCB, a fictional corporation whose label proclaims: "Premium Choice brings you one of the ocean's most elusive -- and delicious -- inhabitants. We've removed the poisonous dorsal spine and retractile clasping organs to offer you the convenience of this ready to serve meal. Enjoy!" The label's "Nutrition Facts" section boasts toxins like lead, mercury and dioxin, and a "may contain traces" list of sinister-sounding chemicals. Yet it also urges us to "care for the environment" and recycle the can, though a biohazard sign replaces the typical recycling logo..
"I'm exaggerating the current reality of canned fish and all processed foods and exploiting industry methods of glossing over the questionable issues to push the acceptance factor," Cameron says. It's good timing, considering the recent warnings about mercury content in tuna, endangered salmon spawning runs and trans-fatty fast foods..
In the artist's imagined future, many of today's warnings have become moot points. His "Tuna-A" label states that "there were no dolphins [left] to harm" and the canned SAMIN label -- based on the SPAM logo -- reminds the consumer to "feel the ocean breeze blowing with every bite" instead of dwelling on the mystery contents..
For gallery-goers, who are meant to handle the artwork, discovering that the cans are heavy with contents hikes up the creep-o-meter. These are real SpaghettiOs and brown-bean cans with normal labels hidden beneath the fishy art. Whatever MacDonald doesn't sell -- at $10 a can -- will be donated to Christmas food drives..
Although the primary weapon is humour, Liquidation tackles multiple socio-economic issues. "The fishing industry is the underwater equivalent of clear-cutting," MacDonald says. "We're consuming ourselves into extinction and I want to implicate all of us in the process. I certainly do it all of the time too, and live with a number of modern-day paradoxes.".
His argument extends to high-end art consumerism and the hawking of rare objects. MacDonald, who is on leave from his studies at the Emily Carr Institute, has grappled with such issues in group shows as well as a solo exhibition featuring vacuum cleaners..
"How can I afford to sit here and be an artist painting pretty pictures, particularly when many art practices are environmentally damaging?" MacDonald asks. "This can't just be a frivolous art show. I want people to have some fun with it. But in the process, I hope they become self-conscious and start thinking they can change things. Fish species bounce back very quickly, but we need to start today.".