Sculpture ensures ‘powerful voice’ is heard

Remember those old-school TV cartoons where a man walks behind a young woman?

His eyes pop out, his whole body shakes with desire — but then he’s horrified as she turns around and shows a grotesque face. Or maybe “she” is actually Bugs Bunny in drag.

Joke’s on you, mister.

That’s the idea behind “Looney Tunes” by Canadian sculptor Shary Boyle, which was just acquired by the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery. Just 28 cm (about 12 inches) high, she has the terracotta body of a delicate maiden, while her porcelain face is that of a “wrathful witch,” says Crystal Mowry, the art gallery’s senior curator.

The art gallery won a Canadawide competition to get the funds to acquire the sculpture. The money is from the York Wilson Endowment award. Each gallery competes to make the case of why the particular acquisition it has chosen is important to have in the collection.

The amount of the purchase is not being disclosed.

It’s the first time in more than 20 years that the gallery has purchased a sculpture by a woman artist.

Boyle is a high-profile artist who represented Canada at the 2013 Venice Biennale. But it’s also important for these times to have a woman’s voice, Mowry said. “Women are recognizing their voice is way more powerful than they’ve been told,” she said. “It becomes important to ensure these powerful voices find their way into the collection. “What artists do always tells us something about the world we’re living in.”