Liz sculpts simple and base things
calls her arrangement “downer”
“Betty,” or Other Liz, addresses
simple and base things with paint
A simple sleep mask
the base word
H E
L P
Painted, à la Léger, in canary green, in lemon-lime
and in snappy, electric blue strokes
The letters squirming of
General Idea’s
A I
D S
“Mom or Mother” seen as plague, the painter
wishing she’d taken a xenofeminist stance
for the w-o-m-b
Instead has two
teen girls with pink cat ears
Reminders of the four-letter mantra
Robert Indiana said to
L O
V E
The detail playing in the outlines of an accordion
and in that ghastly chub of a plush jewel kit where
Mom or Mother Liz
Scatters zirconium treasure into the stoner’s abyss
where worn velveteen things become useful again
This Downer
chains
Offering a cheap loud clasp
a golden rest
Mom or Mother meaning also that other woman
The one clutching onto the unfinished ladder
Painted right before a fall with gravity
her hands strangling her musing
When she goes h-i-g-h
“Come here, kitty-kit-kit!
Here, Darling Lunatic!”
Our thoughts go l-o-w
I hear the dragon-voiced huffs
of the eyeless lion when she says—
“Winner takes all!”
and the excited monkey with small brains
climbing down the tangled jungles of yarn
Gleaming hard, her plastic eyes
know she has won:
“Winner takes all”—the lion says again
this time more resigned
She’s laying on her blankey, almost expired
but to each woman’s cheer she says—
H A
H A
in her fateful toast
H E Y
H E Y
to
the mothers
H A
H A
to us
the eyeless lion says—
“Winner takes all!”
Liz Magor: Downer was on view from December 5, 2020 to January 30, 2021 at Catriona Jeffries Gallery in Vancouver. Using traditional mould-making techniques, Liz Magor’s sculptures consider the relationship between inanimate materials and human emotions.
Elizabeth McIntosh: Mom or Mother was on view from September 12 to October 10, 2020 at Catriona Jeffries Gallery in Vancouver. Using oils on large canvases, Elizabeth McIntosh’s paintings reflect on the multifold roles of motherhood.
