In Toronto, on the corner of Avenue Road and Davenport, there is a billboard advertising the Galerie de Bellefeuille in Montreal. It’s positioned so that people driving their Maseratis north from Yorkville will stop at the lights and stare at work by the gallery’s latest darling. Currently, it’s photographer David Drebin whose work you cannot find by following the URL on the billboard because somebody fucked it up. Instead, to view Drebin’s work, go here: http://debellefeuille.com/drebin-david-2/ The bio says that his “work combines voyeuristic and psychological viewpoints.” It says that he had a “zeitgeist moment” that “signaled the transformation from a commercial photographer into an art photographer.” It says that his work is “epic, dramatic and, above all, cinematic.”
Scrolling down his web profile, you’ll find his “Wheels and Heels”, the limited edition print which is featured on the billboard. A slender fashion model-shaped woman chases barefoot after a sports car while holding high-heeled shoes in her right hand. If you like, call it a variation on a theme by Cinderella. While his bio says he made the transformation from commercial to art photography, I’m more inclined to say that he’s playing in the in-between space where the boundaries between the two disciplines blur. In a way, I think we all do. Given that we inhabit a world driven by commerce, it’s almost impossible to create an imaginative space for art that isn’t already influenced (determined?) by commerce. This may be art, but it’s art on a billboard. It’s art whose purpose is to increase exposure and, ultimately, sales for a gallery in Montreal.
At first, I was drawn to that corner because that’s where the Avenue Road Diner is. But lately I’ve been leaning against the side of a bus shelter across the road and pointing my camera in the direction of the billboard. I click whenever something interesting enters the frame. I’m curious to know how a giant piece of art photography interacts with an environment I’m certain its creator never intended it to enter. Interestingly, the people who pass on foot are emphatically not Maserati-driving Yorkville residents. They aren’t airbrushed or slender. They’re catching the bus or grabbing a pack of cigarettes from the convenience store on the corner. They’re ordinary people.
They should post the billboard higher up the side of the building. That way we wouldn’t have to pay attention to what passes on the ground.
