The Contemporary Arts Center’s show by every wind that blows by Diane Landry is an engaging show that mostly features the Canadian artist’s graceful use of existing, repurposed everyday objects, some of which have been mechanized. There is also a video component.
The gallery piece that attracts the most attention is “Exhaustion.” From a distance, as you approach it, it appears to be a gigantic wire-mesh basket from the world’s weirdest playground — something where you fire a ball into it with a cannon. A closer look shows the material to be criss-crossed patterns of plastic cutlery that gleam with light.
Each work has a transforming impact that eventually is uplifting. What Landry is doing with plastic detritus — the junk that clogs our landfills and accumulates in our waters — borders on miraculous. It gives us hope of clawing our way out of our junk culture yet.
by every wind that blows is at CAC until March 2, 2014. More at contemporaryartscenter.org.
This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2013.