A pot lid for the sky is a two-person exhibition featuring Canadian artist Christopher Lacroix in response to the satirical pledge made by American conceptualist John Baldessari in the early 1970s: “I will not make any more boring art.” Baldessari performed this statement through a series of banal gestures that directly contradicted the words. Lacroix, whose performance- and lens-based works dissect the hostilities endured as a queer person, presents new photographs and video that rebuke empty words.

The written word is a central motif: words that express both limitation and liberation. In his new works, Lacroix launches an attack on the truisms, sentiments, and platitudes that attempt to organise our complicated and changing world. They are visibly deflated, crushed, and even riddled with bullets. Working in a zone in which words and actions are inseparable and yet unresolved, the artist anticipates new words and phrases still waiting to be shared, about the experiences and truths that have yet to be articulated.

John Baldessari (b. 1931, National City, CA; d. 2020, Los Angeles, CA) was one of the most significant American artists of the past century. An influential educator, he taught at the California Institute of the Arts from 1970-1988 and the University of California at Los Angeles from 1996-2007. Baldessari's artwork has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions and in over 1,000 group exhibitions internationally. His numerous awards include the 2014 National Medal of Arts Award, and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, awarded by La Biennale di Venezia in 2009.

Christopher Lacroix (b. 1986, Edmonton, AB) holds a BFA from Ryerson University, ON (2012) and an MFA from the University of British Columbia (2018). His work has been exhibited at window (Winnipeg), Artspace Contemporary Art Projects (Peterborough), and Forest City Gallery (London). Upcoming solo exhibitions include Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art (Kelowna, 2020) and Modern Fuel (Kingston, 2021). Lacroix was the 2018 recipient of the Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize. He currently lives and works in Vancouver, BC.

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Generously supported by Phil Lind through his membership in The Polygon’s Exhibition Circle.

Image: Christopher Lacroix, We all know (OR/or) (Y/y)ou can tell (you’re you’re), 2019, inkjet print, courtesy the artist

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