Artscene Oakville Beaver · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2007 39 Werewolves and ghosts and monsters, oh my By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Werewolves, horror movies and gothic sculptures are all part of the latest Oakville Galleries exhibition in Gairloch Gardens: David Altmejd's Metamorphosis. As curator Louise Dery puts it in her notes on the show, Altmejd's work "compels us toward strange regions, plunges us into the hollows of the imagination." The Montreal artist's exhibition it's his first major Canadian show outside his hometown features sculptures of ghosts taken from fairy tales, Greek mythology and Hollywood B-movies. "This enables him to align himself with the tradition while at the same time seeking to de-figure it, to un-do its customary figure," Dery writes. "His work strikes a chord with today's youth through a romantic sensibility," she continues, noting "he references legends, movies and characters from contemporary science fiction and graphic novels." Werewolves are a major focus of Altmejd's Metamorphosis, which features work he's produced from the late 1990s to today. The werewolf is presented in various ways, including on mirrored surfaces, in ASHLEY HUTCHESON / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER MONSTROUS ART: David Altmejd's sculpture, The Hunter, is admired here on the opening night of his exhibition at Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens. The Montreal artist's show, Metamorphosis, runs to March 25. Plexiglas towers, with costume jewelry and in theatrical lighting. "I've always been very interested in art that refers to the body in a fragmented way," Altmejd says in Dery's exhibition introduction. "By using a monster body part instead of a human body part, I thought I'd be able to keep the strength and the power of the object but could eliminate the familiar aspect. "I felt it was a more interesting experience because it was both powerful and weird. It did become stranger." Altmejd, who is Canada's representative at the 2007 Venice Biennale of Visual Art, notes the werewolf is particularly interesting because it can be used to reference both good and evil. He creates the parts by moulding them in resin, colouring and covering them with hair and other decoration like flowers, birds, beads and jewelry. "My involvement is to create something that is alive that will be able to say new things," Altmejd says. "The energy of these living abstract organisms depends on the meanings of the work being unresolved, uncontrolled." While the show focuses on animals like the werewolf, Dery notes that's not the exhibition's subject. "This account nonetheless proves to be centred on a project of the human the human being's universal destiny and desire for immortality," she writes. Metamorphosis is produced by the Galerie de l'Université du Québec à Montréal. It runs to March 25 at Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens, 1306 Lakeshore Rd. W. exotic · urban · classic · contemporary UP TO 25% DISCOUNT ON CABINETS DESIGN MANUFACTURE INSTALLATION cabinetry solutions tailored to specific needs · down to earth prices · high-tech manufacturing with old world craftsmanship and attention to detail F I NA L W E E K. sale ends thursday february 8th. W W W. F R E E D M A N S H O E S . C O M AYA KITCHENS OF OAKVILLE 1195 North Service Rd. W., Unit #1 & #2 905.847.1522 · Fax: 905.847.1951 e-mail: oakville@AyAkitchens.com www.AyAkitchens.com NOW OPEN O A K V I L L E P L A C E 240 Leighland Ave. Telephone: 905-842-3418