As far as artist Ron Simmer is concerned, any political commentary about former prime minister Stephen Harper is “water under the bridge.”
Clearly, however, some folks who’ve come across his HarperCataren’t quite so ready to let things lie.
A front-page photo on the Burnaby NOW’s Jan. 22 edition (shown above) showed artists Simmer and Louise Solecki Weir with their work at the Moved by Portraits exhibition that opened at the Deer Lake Gallery on Jan. 16. Solecki Weir’s was a terracotta bust of the former prime minister; Simmer’s the above-mentioned HarperCat,with Harper’s face grafted on to a jaguar’s body, drooling blood.
It was the latter that got some readers riled.
“Are you sure you are supporting art when putting the ‘Harper’ cat on your front page? This is sick! Would you dare to depict Mohammed in such a manner?” asked Ziggy Eckardt, commenting on the Burnaby NOW’swebsite.
“I know we have freedom of speech and expression, but you don’t have to print this disgusting stuff,” added Allan MacLeod in a letter to the editor.
They were two among several irate correspondents who clearly felt Simmer’s art – and the NOW’s decision to print the photo on the front page – had crossed the line. (See related story link below for more feedback we received.)
Simmer is matter-of-fact about the controversy.
“It’s sort of a leftover political artifact,” he says, noting it was first created last spring, before the Harper government fell and while many people were concerned about the direction he was steering the nation. “A lot of people thought it was anti-Canadian, what he’d done.”
Or, as Simmer says in an artist’s statement about the piece: “The HarperCat was my personal statement on the practices of the past Conservative government in crushing the law, culture and traditions that make Canada a great place to live.”
Simmer found the base for the sculpture, a fibreglass cat, at a going-out-of-business sale at a Burnaby movie prop house. He engaged Solecki Weir and other artists she knew to create Harper’s face, since his own specialty is not figurative work – he spends more time focusing on public sculpture created from found objects, often designed to be fun and interactive, like oversized children’s toys.
“I try and do public art, not enraging anybody or stirring up discussion,” he says. “I don’t usually go around trying to offend people.”
With HarperCat, he says, he generated a fair bit of support from folks who saw it in previous shows, but it didn’t get enough publicity to become controversial.
He’s unperturbed about the controversy over his work now, noting there’s a lot of commentary out there about Stephen Harper that’s far more offensive than HarperCat’s contribution to the political discourse.
“I think I’m justified,” he says. “I think it’s water under the bridge. People sort of have to move on now.”
Curious about HarperCat? It’s on display at the Deer Lake Gallery, 6584 Deer Lake Ave., as part of the Moved by Portraits exhibition until Feb. 5. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. See www.burnabyartscouncil.org.
