In the centre of Craig LeBlanc’s exhibition Decade, on view now at Jarvis Hall Fine Art, a large-scale handgun, nearly 1.2 metres long, sits on a pedestal.
Normally a symbol of force, violence and fatality, LeBlanc’s foam rubber representation of the weapon is stripped of all its menace, rendered docile and effeminate by the fact that he’s cast it in an unlikely pretty pink.
Elsewhere in the exhibition, a protective cup of a jock strap is mounted on the wall. While such cups are usually designed to protect a male athlete’s groin, this particular model, more than 1.8 metres, is made to cradle and shield an entire full-grown man.
Further down the line, there’s a baseball bat protruding from the wall, strangely drooping like a limp phallus.
Then there’s the hockey stick, that ultimate symbol of Canadian sportsmanship and manly vigour, its potency reduced in LeBlanc’s show by the pleading, somewhat pathetic message cut into the blade: “please use me.”
Images associated with a stereotypical notion of masculinity are treated as targets by LeBlanc, frequently sent up and thwarted by the 42-year-old artist. It is a unifying theme in Decade, a collection of his works over the years, and it’s an artistic obsession that he traces back to his childhood, growing up in the sporting community of Sherwood Park outside of Edmonton. “There was a strong male culture that I was around and I didn’t necessarily fit in all that well,” LeBlanc recalls. “I played team sports, but I was always in these oddball positions, kind of outside the team, like the goalie or the pitcher.”
While he felt uncomfortable in the company of jocks, LeBlanc’s outlook was simultaneously being shaped by his home life. “I grew up in a feminine household with strong, independent women — four older sisters, plus my mom.”
These impressions first began to shape LeBlanc’s art in the mid-’90s, while studying at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
“I guess for a long time I’ve been looking at the perceptions we have, gender-wise, and what the reality is,” LeBlanc says. “There’s that outward perception of males, that archetype steeped in machismo and aggression. . . . But that’s not necessarily the truth. There’s a lot of sensitive, caring, nice men too.” He adds: “Of course, there are men that complete the stereotype as well.”
Click here for the complete article in the Calgary Herald.
Craig LeBlanc is workshop technician at Environmental Design, where he aids in facilitation of the design and fabrication process with students and researchers. Click here to view Le Blanc's exhibition.