Post-Traumatic Playdate – Corinne Thiessen
Post-Traumatic Playdate – Corinne Thiessen
Post-Traumatic Playdate – Corinne Thiessen
Remember when we were kids, we drew moustaches and devil horns on magazine faces? The compulsion to deface is irresistible and universal – to poke fun, take back control, or re-write the story. One day, while flipping through TOP 40 UNDER 40 glossy ads, I felt like crap witnessing young folks rise to success in “real” jobs compared to my vain attempts at sustaining a creative living. So I painted clown make-up on local realtors. I turned accountants into seasoned actors, using paint like “white-out” as correction fluid for a capitalist palimpsest where models and insurance agents masquerade as horny demons. Images of manufactured bliss morph into a circus sideshow. Corporate utopia becomes theatre. My personal experience in high control groups is reflected in the culture where hyper-individuality and fragmented social relationships leave us lonely and vulnerable to cults, scams, and predatory, controlling practices. Painting scenes of worship, mass hysteria and group-think parallels my stock image search terms: team-building, success-coaching, human resources, professional development… Daily life in late capitalism is a Post-Traumatic Playdate where new coping mechanisms Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn, (and, if I may add, Pharma) include comedy as a necessary survival response.
Corinne Thiessen is a multidisciplinary artist born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Treaty 1 territory. She holds a Master’s degree in Fine Art from the University of Lethbridge. Her paintings, animations, performances, and installations take a comedic look at human behaviour and social control, questioning the meaning of life, success, and productivity under capitalism.
Thiessen has exhibited at Galeria Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City; The Penticton Art Gallery, B.C.; Esker Foundation and Stride Gallery in Calgary, Soo Visual Arts in Minneapolis, and a solo exhibition at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Residencies and collaborative projects at the Banff Centre, ZK/U, Berlin; Island Mountain Arts, B.C.; Centre Pompadour, France; The Museum of Loss and Renewal, Italy also include published work in MAP Magazine and in the 2019 Printing Plant Art Book Fair in Amsterdam as well as sessional instruction at Lethbridge College and in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge.
Date:November 10th, 2023 - January 13th, 2024
Location:Casa - Main Gallery
Casa Program Guide
The Casa Program Guide is produced three times a year; Winter, Spring/Summer and Fall. Inside the guide find listings for the upcoming class and workshop schedule, upcoming exhibitions at The Gallery, information about artists in residence and seasonal events in the building. Program guides are free. Pick-up guides at Casa or at facilities throughout the city.