Broken Moose

In 1986 the Vancouver Art Gallery put out a call for entries to a show they called "Broken Muse" to be shown in December of that year. A number of Emily Carr artists submitted work, all of which were rejected.  The art community – the non-elites, that is – were tremendously pissed off and decided to hold their own show and run it at the same time as the VAG exhibition. They mockingly called it "Broken Moose" and invited anyone to submit work no matter who they were or how obscure or loopy, the only criteria was the subject matter had to be something to do with moose.  The show was held in the dark basement of the Pitt Gallery and nobody who submitted was rejected. The result was a hilarious, irreverent, inventive and delightful collection of what can come out of the minds of a wild assortment of artists. There were paintings, paper maché, collages, writings, drawings, sculptures, installations, even a huge set of actual moose antlers, all poking fun at the insufferable snobbery of the VAG.

It was also the one and only time a piece of mine was reviewed by the Vancouver Sun's art critic, Elizabeth Godley (favorably, I might add).

And here's the review of the show