Using recycled plastic raincoats from the world-famous "Maid of the Mist" boat tour, local artist Marc J. Léger has created a site-specific installation to examine the social and tourist mediation of Niagara Falls.
His exhibition, "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Niagara Falls: . . ." can be seen at the Hartnett Gallery in Wilson Commons on the University of Rochester River Campus from Monday, Aug. 14, through Friday, Aug. 18, and Monday, Aug. 21, through Sunday, Aug. 27. Gallery hours during the exhibit are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Léger has taken advantage of the wedge-shaped gallery space, designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei, to work the perspective paradigm to examine the orderings of social space and the pleasures of looking. The "Ladies and Gentlemen" of the title is derived from the sound track that is played aboard the Maid of the Mist.
An artist and writer, Léger has shown his work in Montreal, Ottawa, Rochester, and Birmingham, Great Britain. His previous work has explored the relations of tourist consumption and urbanism to the creation of official representations of the past. He is currently undertaking research in the Graduate Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University. His written work has focused on contemporary public art.
For more information, call the Hartnett Gallery at (585) 275-4188.