Published August 20, 2009  by Mark Strowbridge in Fast Forward Weekly

Mark Strowbridge

Marcia Pitch’s Beyond the Playroom mixes the sinister and the cute

Beyond the Playroom

Runs until August 30

The New Gallery Plus-15 window - Calgary
 
Marcia Pitch's exhibit contains five groups of plush toys adorning the white walls of the glass enclosure, pinned like a butterfly collector's specimens or a hunter's trophies. These are not regular toys. There is something sinister behind their cuteness, but not in a homicidal Chucky kind of way.

Rather, there is an austerity that surrounds this exhibit — a meditation on a troubling point. The way these toys are arranged — crowded and staring straight out of the window — suggests something beyond the immediate childish association of the toys, something reminiscent of the daily lives of adults.

The joy of this exhibit is in the details. Many of the toys have unfinished seams — a pleasant feature. The viewer can empathize with these creations, as everyone emerges from childhood a little rough for wear and a frazzled at the seams.

It is the rabbits, with a carrot dangling in front of them, that are the most attractive. Most people will relate to and be immediately drawn to this part of the exhibit. The carrot on a stick is such a widely understood idiom that the viewer instantly recognizes and empathizes with it: a kind of perpetual longing for something just beyond a person's reach. This understanding establishes a sense of unity about the whole project. It's a subtle and confident stroke that makes this simple, yet curiously fascinating, menagerie of weirdness a pleasure to observe.