ANTI-ICON: APOKALYPSIS Exhibition

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ANTI-ICON /ænti-ī kän/ 1. the transgressor or antagonist of veneration and obedience; 2. the subversion of a figure or representation widely admired for having great influence or significance in a particular sphere, often regarded as holy and worthy of worship; 3. a representation of both the beginning and the end, prophesied as an omen of rebirth associated with the apocalypse.

APOKALYPSIS / from Greek apokálypsis “revelation,” equivalent to apokalýp(tein) “to uncover, reveal” (apo- “away, off, apart” + kalýptein “to cover, conceal”)

What does it mean to be an icon and who, or what, becomes iconic? Icons carry authority, in their highly symbolic and instant recognisability. The new, landmark series Anti-Icon: Apokalypsis, by acclaimed photographer Martine Gutierrez, refuses ready understandings of identity, gender, and culture. Across seventeen self-portraits, Gutierrez embodies a pantheon of legendary figures – all female or feminized – from across the world’s legends, histories, and myths. Her re-imaginings of such endlessly reproduced figures reference the long visual lineages in which these images circulate – from traditional iconography and Renaissance painting to contemporary fashion editorials and pop media – while offering an interpretation that challenges all these depictions. Through the “anti-icon”, Gutierrez stretches the malleability of the self, and of the social imagination that shapes it.

As Gutierrez states: “In the progress of nihilism, creation becomes resistance; a new image of what the world was all along.”

Martine Gutierrez (b. 1989) is a transdisciplinary artist, performing, writing, composing and directing elaborate narrative scenes to subvert pop-cultural tropes in the exploration of identity – both personally and collectively intersectional to the cultural boundaries of race, gender, class and nationality. Her work has been shown internationally, and is held in major public and private collections across the United States and abroad. Gutierrez received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2012. She is also a published musician and has produced several commercial videos. Gutierrez lives and works in New York.

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The Polygon Gallery

The Polygon is one of Canada’s most acclaimed photography and media art galleries. The Gallery moved into its Governor General’s Medal winning building in 2017 after operating as Presentation House Gallery for 40 years. The organization has presented more than 300 exhibitions, and earned a reputation as one of Canada’s most adventurous public art institutions.

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