It's A Shoe In
Affinity Gallery, Saskatoon
Opening Reception Saturday, November 1 from 7:00--9:00
Exhibition run October 24 - November 29, 2014
Monique Martin
Clay, glaze, paper and plastic
This old phrase “It’s a Shoe
In”, historically refers to the horse races where a horse was a sure bet. In
thinking about this and the prizes given to award winning horses, the ribbons
and medals, I was inspired to produce this small series called “Success is for
Sale”.
To be an award winner takes
money. Not just the horse races but also any sort of athletics or career. At the same time as thinking about buying
success I was researching Affluenza for a different body of work and found a
connection between Affluenza and being “a shoe in”. Those with money are buying their way in. Any success costs
money, many people never reach their goals or dreams because the financial cost
is too much.
Success is for sale in
this time in history, major athletes are buying various performance enhancing
drugs, bribing judges, quitting work to train full time, having personal
trainers, massage therapists, spending money to be in the right circle of
friends and hiring psychologists, is just a small list of the costs of success.
Being an Olympian or bringing home an Olympic medal costs money. The more money
spent, the more medals is often the story we hear in the news (Own the Podium
program).
This series replicates a
store shelf but “success” is for sale.
It is for sale for all those suffering from Affluenza, Kalopsia, as well
for parvenus and arrivists. The QR codes are real, as are the UPC codes. Scan
the UPC code and the product numbers spell “Success is for Sale”. Scan the QR
codes and you are linked to a webpage about the series and links to instances
where “Success has been purchased”.
