FASTWURMS Brew a Punk-Magic Melange at the CAG

As I stepped inside the Contemporary Art Gallery earlier this week, I was instantly drawn to the green glow and haunting music which emanated from the tiny viewing alcove just left of the entrance. After poking my head inside, I was greeted by a security-camera quality video showing a witch and a ninja as they slowly walked through the streets of Italy. The alluringly low-budget piece, filmed at night, joins two immediately recognizable, yet wholly disparate cultural icons in such unconventional activities as marshmallow roasting and hand-holding. Filmed in an eerie night-vision green, the video installation "Witch vs Ninja" is the newest work from Ontario artists FASTWÜRMS and only hints at the scope of their current exhibit DONKY@NINJA@WITCH at the CAG, running until March 23rd.

This unsettling marriage of modern stereotypes, avant-pagan imagery, and dark but often playful humor pervades the entire exhibition, which celebrates the last ten years of artistic output from Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse. The artistic duo have been combining the traditions of Wicca, craft-making, punk culture and modern art since their formation in 1979 (check out their manifesto & media kit online in pdf). Now instructors at the University of Guelph, they've held successful exhibitions across North America which have been consistently met with critical acclaim and public attention. This retrospective, however, is their first showing of work in Vancouver.

First displayed last fall in Toronto, DONKY@NINJA@WITCH weaves together five of the duo's previously acclaimed installations, dating from 1995 to the present. The resultant farrago of fringe imagery and experimental art leaves one feeling dumbstruck; the exhibit overwhelms on a level both sensual and cerebral and it almost left me too intimidated to attempt a review. Regardless of my inability to properly articulate its power, the show is essential viewing for anyone fascinated by contemporary art or fringe culture...

Since taking over the CAG on January 25, they've been met with some decent local reception, but the little I had read definitely left me unprepared for the insane, motley spell of punk-witch aesthetics; a schizophrenic assault of images that serves as a testament to the power of do-it-yourself (and define-it-yourself) aesthetics. For example, the second room I entered, fusing 2002's "Blood & Swash" and "Denim Pox", combines austere paintings of mushrooms and 'fairy people' with 'Stone Cold Steve Austin' logos and tattoo-style occult symbology printed on swatches of white washed denim. Let's not even start on the pirates...

A personal highlight from the spectacle was a giant spiders' web, suspended over one wall of the gallery, created entirely out of black nylon bras and g-strings. At it's center sits a pentagram, an icon which percolates throughout their work; including a mock-Canadian flag rendered in green with a five pointed star replacing the maple leaf. That image and a few others are available in poster form as free giveaways.

Hidden amongst the web of underwear is a giant ball of black yarn, only a hint at FASTWÜRMS love of cats and general orthodoxy of animal worship. Bags of cannabis mixed with catnip, dildos juxtaposed with horseshoes, and a Raven named Timon are only some of the ways that the witches align human and animal, ecological and sexual. The end product moves from shocking to comical in a manner that can only be described as spellbinding.

Through this unrestrained cascade of images, FASTWÜRMS' Wiccan ethos is filtered by punk traditions and contemporary fringe culture to find distillation in a message of unity over segmentation, a celebration of sexual equality, and a respect for the environment. Individually, the pieces may confuse or even frighten the novice viewer; brought together they form an addictive brew thats effect can only be described as awesome.

The team's anthem of "do what you will, harm unto none" holds unquestionable appeal to Vancouver's atmosphere of cultural diversity and ecological awareness, and it's truly surprising they haven't shown work here before.

You'll have until March 23rd to celebrate the madness at the Contemporary Art Gallery, where admission is by donation.

The gallery is open Wednesday - Sunday, 12 to 6 pm and located at 555 Nelson Street (Richard & Nelson)

photos courtesy of arttattler and SwanDiamondRose