"Diabolique" (Part 1) March 26 to June 4, 2010, (Part 2) June 18 to August 14, 2010, Kenderdine Art Gallery, Saskatoon

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"War"

Jake & Dinos Chapman, "War," painted bronze, 2004.

Diabolique (Part 1) March 26 to June 4, 2010, (Part 2) June 18 to August 14, 2010, Kenderdine Art Gallery, Saskatoon

BY: Jill Sawyer

Curator Amanda Cachia came upon the idea for Diabolique through the work of ten powerful female artists. In 2008 she created a show at the Dunlop Art Gallery, where she’s director/curator, called Pandora’s Box, which surveyed work by artists including Kara Walker, Wangechi Mutu, and Annie Pootoogook, centring on social and historical themes of female sexuality, and touching on violence against women. “It made me want to look at violence and conflict on a more general level,” she says. The result is Diabolique, whichCanadian Art named one of the top ten shows in Canada of 2009 when it opened at the Dunlop. This summer it arrives, in two parts, at the Kenderdine Gallery in Saskatoon. Next spring it will show at the Military Museums in Calgary. The context for each of the 22 works in the show — by artists including Jake and Dinos Chapman, Rebecca Belmore, David Garneau, Althea Thauberger, Douglas Coupland, and Raymond Pettibon — is contemporary conflict. The exhibition is split into two parts to accommodate its sheer volume, but Cachia finds that fitting, as well. It mirrors the two World Wars, two of the most compelling conflicts of the 20th century — just when they thought it was over, the violence began again.