“Bear Minimum” by Dean Drever runs to Aug 30. Wed-Sat Noon-6pm. MKG 127, 127 Ossington. 647-435-7682.
www.mkg127.com.
Until now, Dean Drever has, more or less, been a sculptor in the spirit of Jeff Koons. His ironic objects — chrome baseball bats and stainless-steel knuckle-dusters, for instance, produced in limited editions and engraved with phrases like “This too will pass” — were manufactured by others. His new show at MKG 127 — to wit, one and a half giant yellow grizzly bears — changes this. He had initially intended to carve them out of cedar, and to cover them in automotive paint. He is still working on making this happen, but for practical reasons it could not be done in time for his current show, and so instead we get bears carved out of EPS foam, and covered in flocking (that fuzzy finish most commonly seen on bobble-head dogs).
These materials have similar conceptual effects as his previous, slicker ones, despite their unmistakable tweeness. The lightness of the bears and the softness of their finishes contrast with the lumbering, menacing aspects of their forms, and the sharp cuts representing their fur. Foam is hardly cedar, and the toxic dust that no doubt emerged from it while Drever worked gives the bears an edge they would not otherwise have had. And so this is not a full-on parody of the sculptor’s métier. It could never be; a gesture this lavish is bound to impress, regardless of its inherent absurdity.