Robert Labossiere
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CARTOONS

This sad little man had been hanging around for some time. I finally put him to work...

HIPPIE BUS

1968 or 1971 seem like a very long away. This project wants to compare then to now, working collaboratively with others to design and paint a hippie bus for today.

RUBBELL

This idea just made me smile.

BIGHEADZ

Leadership abhors a vacuum. Is it only nostalgia that sees something more substantial in political leaders of the past than the present?

JOBLESS MEN KEEP GOING

Pamphlet of stencils based on depression era photographs and some suggested actions to perform

SWIZZLE

Swizzle sticks inspired by Paul Butler's Reverse Pedagogy event at the Venice Biennial and others.

YOU'RE HISTORY

The failure of the international aid system got some critical attention in 2008, prompting me to repost this project.

FREE SIGN PROJECT

What does "free" mean today? Free to own? Free to borrow? Free to work? Free to capitalize? Free to "liberate?"
2008 - presentView images



PAYDAY

Window installation at the Convenience Gallery in Toronto, emulates the storefront of a payday "cash store." Payday lending has exploded locally and is unregulated, allowing lenders to extract exhorbitant rates and fees.

N

Artist's multiple/book - Word pairs like this 'n that, up n' down, etc. are printed on current issues of consumer magazines. In this case, the March '08 issue of The Walrus, edition of five.
2008 Exhibited at Eyelevel Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia


PLATES

This project involves using the "vanity plates" services available in most jurisdictions to create a suite of thematic license plates.

BLOGUMENTA

Launched at the same time as the international art fair Documenta; gathers together artworks into a viewing space for Facebook audiences.

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artforum

REAL ESTATE

Illustrating the proportion of advertising to editorial in art magazines and other publications.
sloganeer

SLOGANEER

During a residency at the Banff Centre, fellow residents were asked to write slogans for the Centre, which coincidentally was undergoing re-branding. A workstation was set up – an electric typerwriter laoded with a continuous roll of paper – and residents produced this document.
studio installation - the world is a cartoon

THE WORLD IS A CARTOON

Noticing frames around things in an increasingly cartoonish world.
2006 view jpegs

 

studio installation - executive toys

VOCATION/VACATION

Being creative requires discipline, unlike play. On the other hand, play requires imagination, unlike discipline.
2006 view jpegs
 
dog and gramophone

HIS MASTER'S VOICE

His Master's Voice – riffs on the famous dog and gramophone logo, sometimes working something like a diary. In 2006 morphed into four panel strips about artists I know.
1985-2006 In a fit of pique I took down the HMV blog in 2010.
aphorisms - short texts

APHORISMS

Sometimes you feel like you ought to say, but don't. Other times you do say but shouldn't have. These cards refer to the specific contexts in which they were created and distributed.
1982-2006 view jpegs
works involving magazines

MAGAZINE WORKS

Magazines are wonderful containers, abundant with riches yet ephemeral, objects of desire one moment, discarded the next. These works treat or use magazines in many different ways.
1997-2006 view jpegs
piano drop

PIANO DROP

Celebrate art's birthday on January 17 by dropping a piano. Can't wait 'til then? Drop one now.
casts

CASTS

"Nature" is a powerful trope, for whatever appears natural we also think of as more true and more virtuous. These plaster casts taken from the body exhibit an almost other worldliness, while those of a plain framed canvas eroded by water are more grounded. Sizes vary.
1992-94 view jpegs