David Harper | Entre Le Chien Et Le Loup

[David Harper]
Entre Le Chien Et Le Loup
Toronto, Canada: Doris McCarthy Art Gallery, 2014
120 pp., 22.6 x 14.7 x 2 cm., hardcover
Edition size unknown


A handsomely designed catalogue to accompany the travelling exhibition of the same name, which began at the Doris McCarthy Gallery in February of 2013 and wraps up at Saint Mary's University Art Gallery later this month. It was also hosted by the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, the Kenderline Art Gallery (Saskatchewan) and the Ottawa Art Gallery.  All venues are co-publishers of the book.

The title phrase “entre chien et loup” translates literally into "between dog and wolf" but is used to describe a time of day,  just before night, when the light is so dim one cannot distinguish the two animals. It also expresses that limit between the familiar, the comfortable versus the unknown and the dangerous, the domestic and the wild. It is an uncertain threshold between hope and fear.

Harper's first monograph is a white clothbound book (with a discreet foil stamped cover) held in a die-cut cardboard slipcase, designed by Lauren Wickware. It features an introduction from Doris McCarthy Director/Curator Ann MacDonald and the essays "The Magic of The Handmade Thing" by Lise Stone & Jim Zanzi, "My Life as a Placeholder" by Jan Peacock, "All at Once" by Crystal Mowry and "Whether Pigs Have Wings" by Robin Metcalfe.

The final stop on the tour opens this Saturday (August 23rd) and runs until the 5th of October at the  Saint Mary's University Art Gallery in Halifax. Visit the gallery site, here.

The catalogue will be part of a joint-launch with the pace of days, which documents Monica Tap's recent exhibition at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. The event takes place on September 2nd, from 7 to 9 pm at MKG127.