Lot
43
La table de la Méduse
C-print, 2014
75 x 107 cm
AP 1
Estimate
$4 000
Created for the Biennale de sculpture de St-Jean-Port-Joli, La table de la Méduse (after Géricault), features a heavily overbuilt picnic table fastened by ropes to a large rock on a tidal plain of the St. Lawrence River. The tide submerges the rocky point twice a day, and the table, somewhat floating, smashes repeatedly against the rocks. At low tide, the table makes landing, beaching itself somewhere slightly different each time. Repairs are then made and celebrated by opening up a six-seat “restaurant” that focuses on small courses of simple seafood dishes: Malpeque oysters with lime, grilled Portuguese sardines with Harissa and olive oil, whole radishes with salt. A selection of chilled white wines is available. Everything is gratis to those who make the arduous seventeen-minute trek over rocks and across bog out to the point on the water where the sunsets are spectacular.
Biographical note
Dean Baldwin lives and works in Montreal, Quebec. His practice can generally be described as production of large-scale immersive scenarios that re-create moments of leisure after a great deal of hard work has been completed. There are often snacks and drinks involved; people usually have a good time.
Recent projects include Helliwell's, with No. 9 Contemporary, at the Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum in Toronto, and Chalet Charlottetown at the Confederation Centre in PEI as a part of the MASSMoCA touring exhibit Oh, Canada. This past summer, Baldwin participated in the Biennale de sculpture de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli in Quebec and the Junction Arts Festival in Tasmania, Australia.