Alex Da Corte @ MOCA
Alex Da Corte is on at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto. Da Corte is a Venezuelan American conceptual artist who uses a range of media including painting, sculpture, installation, performance plus video to create his installations and films.
His works at MOCA are immersive. Shoe coverings are required to be slipped on for entry to ensure I suspect that the tactile floor and sound is not at odds with the dreamlike and sometimes spooky and foreboding works.
Da Corte’s film works are shown on a series of screens contained within large boxes scattered across the space. They are a reflection on popular culture, sexuality, violence, cinema and art history.
Yes this is a nostalgic trip with an overlay of menace.
It’s stunning. The films reveal the extraordinary ability and creativity of both artist and his band of creators to provide such a captivating experience.
Da Corte acts out a range of roles in the films that include My Rogers, Sleeping Beauty, Wicked Witch, the Statue of Liberty, Frankenstein and Marcel Duchamp.
Those plus others drawn from Disney cartoon characters give the performances a nostalgia that is imaginative and magical.
He is a powerful and engaging performer. He seeks to explore the personalities of his characters from within to reveal aspects of their influence on him.
His ‘Moving Image’ display inside a dark structure reveals the mementos, props, and models that he has collected from his childhood and provide him with a source of inspiration and reflection. It is filmic in its presentation and is according to Da Corte ‘life as a moving image’.
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