Miriam El Abbassi | Arts Editor
Featured Image: Ghookasian uses art as a way to explore various themes and topics. | Miriam El Abbassi
Spectacle is a rather cynical look at everyday objects, and the unique importance each one has to the artist. Located at the Gales Gallery in the Accolade West building, visual artist, Ana Ghookasian, illustrates “contemporaneity” through her unique lens.
Ghookasian is a visual artist on her way to finishing her degree at York with a bachelor of fine arts and a minor in politics. She uses art as a way to explore various themes and topics such as existentialism, political theory, and the relationship one has with objects.
When asked about the moment she realized art would be her life’s pursuit, she replies: “There really wasn’t an ‘aha’ moment. My mom always worked with clay, but other than that I really value critical thinking, and art is one of the main fields that primarily focuses on issues that push that kind of thought.”
Leading up to the exhibition, Ghookasian describes the conception of Spectacle to be the result of feedback from her previous solo show, you and this. “One of the most dominating comments from my solo show last year was that the work lacked my emotionality as the artist. I think this is a condition of showing work in an institution that has many young artists that draw inspiration from their own lives and experiences, but that’s not exactly how I operate. I thought maybe I should investigate what ‘emotional’ work might mean for me, and Spectacle was the realization of this investigation,” she says.
Upon entering the gallery space, the viewer quickly notices five clearly defined quadrants: a pink lock of hair affixed to a cement block, a perpendicular pink paint splatter on the wall, a wooden chair nailed to the wall, a pillow emanating a soft blue light, and a video playing on a continuous loop (of which Ghookasian is the subject).
Each aspect of the space is utilized in such a way that, on one hand, they all simultaneously work together to convey the artist’s own sensitivity, but each could potentially be a stand alone work, focussing on the very personal relationship that Ghookasian has with each object.
Ghookasian describes the relationship between the pink lock of hair and the video on loop (which displays her in the same pink wig), as a representation of her own grapple with the concept of femininity: “Those works try to locate my femininity given that I’m not entirely comfortable with the notion of ultra-fem, but most certainly want to belong to the category. The video and the pink plastic wig also display two understandings of womanhood; a genuine and natural one, versus a manufactured and artificial take.”
The pillow and the chair, which are adjacent to one another, are meant to evoke a “dreamy” state from the viewer. However, any deeper significance is completely dependant upon who the audience is, as whatever personal meaning that is derived is entirely subjective.
Ghookasian recalls the most challenging part of creating Spectacle was trying to do something different: “My previous work, series, and shows looked at materiality and theory and trying to do something that took both of those situations into consideration. Prominently inserting ‘me’ into it was the biggest challenge. I wanted to be present in the work, but I didn’t want to dominate anything to the point that no viewer could still insert their understanding.”
Ghookasian’s does offer some advice for newer artists. She mentions that young artists need to network by visiting actual galleries, and to start considering where they want to exist in the art realm. Seeking out criticism for their own work is also a tip she shares, as well as to listen to the advice of older peers, and make as many mistakes as you can in the studio.
