Stan Douglas: Entertainment
Introduction by Melanie O’Brian. Texts by Louis Kaplan and Maria Muhle
Marking the first in a new series of scholarly readers called Power Plant Pages, this richly designed catalogue was published on the occasion of Stan Douglas’s 2011 solo exhibition at The Power Plant in Toronto. Titled Entertainment: Selections from Midcentury Studio, the exhibition featured two complementary series, Midcentury Studio and Malabar People, recently created by the artist. Douglas has assumed the role of a fictional, anonymous photographer for both series, which were hypothetically produced between 1945-1951. Midcentury Studio chronicles the burgeoning discipline of press photography in North America during the postwar period, depicting crime-scenes, curious and exotic artifacts, magicians, fashion, dance, gambling, and technology, while Malabar People comprises black-and-white portraits of the patrons and staff of a fictional 1950s nightclub. Also included are essays by Louis Kaplan, Professor of History and Theory of Photography and New Media at the University of Toronto, and art historian Maria Muhle.
Publisher: The Power Plant
Artists: Stan Douglas
Contributors: Louis Kaplan, Maria Muhle, Melanie O’Brian
Publication Date: 2011
Binding: Softcover
Dimensions: 4 3/4 x 5 1/2 in (12.1 x 14 cm)
Pages: 72
Reproductions: Illustrated throughout
ISBN: 9781894212342
Retail: $15 | £9 | $115 HKD
Status: Available
Stan Douglas
Since the late 1980s, Stan Douglas has created films, photographs, and installations that reexamine particular locations or past events. His works often take their points of departure in local settings, from which broader issues can be identified. Making frequent use of new as well as outdated technologies, Douglas appropriates existing Hollywood genres (including murder mysteries and the Western) and borrows from classic literary works (notably, Samuel Beckett, Herman Melville, and Franz Kafka) to create ready-made contextual frameworks for his complex, thoroughly researched projects.
