“Avant-Gauche music?”? This concert is part of the promise of two young Vancouver artists, John Anthony and Steven Leece to be premiered on the opening night of their show To Be Re(a)d, at the Unit/Pitt Gallery on February 27, at 8:00 p.m. Keeping time with the “avant-gauche” music will be a series of live poems and visual collages. References to Tristam Tzara, Robert Rauschenburg, Gertrude Stein, William Burroughs, Jasper Johns, Marcel Duchamp and Robert Motherwell all shape and inform this exhibition of words, music and collage.
John Anthony, 29, working on his Law degree at UBC, ex-international Frisbee champion and interested and influenced by all major avant-garde art movements of the 20th century, lists his ultimate ambition as getting control of the National Enquirer and publishing the “real” truth. According to John, “burnt toast no problem in Hell!!”
Steven Leece, 24, attends the Emily Carr Schooll of Art and Design. The more visually oriented of the two he fantasizes while working at Stong’s Groceries of getting control of all consumer’s needs and desires through grocery store art.
The two artists have been collaborating for the past three years on joint projects involving poetry, music and the visual arts. The current showing at the Unit/Pitt Gallery is a culmination of this effort. The show will run until March 10th, gallery hours 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. The general mood as promised by the artists is “happier than a happy face”.
