SLEEP OF REASON: March 22 to May 19, 2012, Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse

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"Sleep of Reason"

Installation view (work by Jeff Ladouceur, Nadia Moss), "Sleep of Reason," Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse.

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"Sleep of Reason"

Installation view (work by Sonja Alhers, Jeff Ladouceur, Rosemary Scanlon), "Sleep of Reason," Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse.

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"Treachery of the Unknown"

Joseph Tisiga, "Treachery of the Unknown."

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"Sleep of Reason"

Installation view (work by Jeff Ladouceur, Nadia Moss), "Sleep of Reason," Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse.

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Sleep of Reason

March 22 to May 19, Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse

By Jill Sawyer

Curator Jennifer Cane has pulled together a selection of work by young Canadian and American artists, many with ties to the north, that collectively presents a fever-dream of creative imaginings. Artists including Joseph Tisiga, Shuvinai Ashoona, Sonja Ahlers, Rosemary Scanlon, Nadia Moss, Jen Weih, Jeff Ladouceur, Jim Holyoak, and David Horvitz present work that is alternately playful and disturbing, depicting the “artist as dreamer.” Cane has derived her concept from the Francisco Goya work The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, an etching of a sleeping man attacked by winged bat/owl creatures. Critics have interpreted the work as an example of the artist’s unleashing of emotion, imagination, and the nightmares that follow. For Cane, Goya’s work was about social criticism of corruption and oppression as much as it was about flights of imagination, and she sought the same layers of meaning in the contemporary work chosen for this show. Rosemary Scanlon’s watercolours are dotted alternately with menacing creatures, lost memories, and comical effects, all blending together into a strange, swirling world. Jim Holyoak creates similar dream-like magical places, populated by windblown flora and deranged-looking animals. Shuvinai Ashoona’s drawings are deceptive — appearing at first to be typical northern scenes, until you look closer and discover the odd-shaped objects hidden in the intense detail.