Jared Mitchell & R.M. Vaughan

Live Without Culture

April 21 - May 10, 2006
At Paul Petro Multiples + Small Works

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Like many of life's misadventures, Live Without Culture started with an emotional outburst.

Looking at the City of Toronto's shiny new cultural promotion campaign, our first response was: How come none of the "artists" depicted on the banners look like us? Why are they all skinny underwear models?

If you know any artists, you know that few, if any, resemble underwear models. You also know that making art is a dirty, grubby and anxiety-causing business. Even in the best moments, life as an artist is far from the tiptoes-and-tulips walk depicted on the Live With Culture banners. Making art is sometimes lots of fun - but most of the time it is just a job.

Our alternate campaign, Live Without Culture, attempts to rectify the damage done by the City of Toronto's misrepresentation of the artist's life. Furthermore, Live Without Culture wishes to offer a more realistic vision of what it means to experience culture. Sometimes, art makes you feel ugly and disillusioned, mean and slow, fat and tired. This reality needs to be presented to the public alongside the more peppy vision offered by the official campaign.

Art is messy. Artists are sometimes fat. Culture can be a pain in the ass, and making a culture can be an even bigger pain in the ass. Big pains in the ass require big asses. Live Without Culture is your break from the make-or-break world of cultural production. Sit back and let your gut hang out.

- R.M. Vaughan
April 2006