CHRISTMAS SPICE

Group Show

December 8 - 23, 2006
Opens Friday December 8th, 7-11pm

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Paul Petro Contemporary Art is pleased to present our tenth annual
Christmas Spice group exhibition:

Stephen Andrews
Rayne Baron
Cecilia Berkovic
Amy Bowles
Peter Bowyer
Jane Buyers
Dennis Day
Maura Doyle
Gary Evans
FASTWURMS
Ron Giii
Stephane Gilot
Sadko Hadzihasanovic
Andrew Harwood
Natalka Husar
Instant Coffee
G.B. Jones
Steven Kado
Suzy Lake
Jiva Mackay
Susan Mackay
Bernie Miller
Olia Mishchenko
Allyson Mitchell
Janet Morton
Will Munro
Sandy Plotnikoff
Jeanne Randolph
Rhonda Riche
Melanie Rocan
Cyrus Smith
Ho Tam
Trixie & Beever
R.M. Vaughan
& others

R.M. Vaughan "does" this year's tree:

"It's hardly surprising to me that Christmas has a Gothic underside.
The holiday is, after all, enormously frustrating, even depressing.
Why wouldn't we seek to relieve some of our holiday stress through
monstrous exaggeration?  Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a Yuletide
classic for good reason - it's damned scary.

"In the 19th century, British parents entertained their children on
Christmas Eve with ghost stories and vampire tales read aloud from
popular horror magazines called "penny dreadfuls".  Christmas
pantomimes, still staged today, always feature a wicked character,
an evil king or wizard, who sports a suspiciously satanic, pointy
beard or horn-like tufts of hair.  Throughout Eastern Europe, St.
Nicholas is followed by his helper Krampus, a bat winged devil
who beats the bad children while St Nicholas hands out treats to
the well behaved kids.

"If I had o pick a side, I'd be a Krampus man.  Christmas is too
goody-goody for me.  It needs a tonic, a literal kicker.  And if
Krampus is listening, I've got a long, long list of people I'd like
him to visit.

"The Mr & Mrs Santa Bats are my attempt to bring Krampus and
Santa a little closer, to imagine what their gay marriage children
might look like.  Hang one on your tree and give him or her a
quick glance whenever things get a bit too sickly sweet, a bit too
Bing Crosby, around your house.

"As you know, Santa only comes once a year...however, according
to my sources, black hearted Krampus will knock on your front
door with his gory claws anytime you call.  It pays to have friends
in low places."

-- R.M. Vaughan, December 2006

Mr & Mrs Santa Bats (plus a few Spiders)
2006  manipulated toys/mixed media (see attached)