Strength Thru Embarrassment

In Strength Thru Embarrassment, Laura Kikauka presents new work that combines the aesthetics of both intention and accident. In an act of double-appropriation, she alters a large collection of “art” purchases (largely from thrift stores) by collaging, drawing and painting excerpts from song lyrics into the found “art”. The appropriation of found paintings and song lyrics makes the original artist and lyricist unwitting collaborators with Kikauka, thus creating a three-way collaborative process. The resulting visual works pose a game for the viewer, who may often recognize the song lyrics but might be puzzled to name the song from which the lyrics were borrowed. Kikauka appropriates lyrics from all genres of popular & unpopular song: classic rock, pop, new wave, punk, indie, country, metal, jazz and easy listening and from such musical suspects as Abba & Aerosmith to Zappa & ZZ Top and the many musicians in between.

Laura Kikauka‘s body of work over the past twenty-five years encompasses various mediums including site specific installation, mixed media, electronic sculpture, drawing, photography, video, performance, music, text and costume creations. Kikauka’s installations establish a highly specific visual (and often audio) language that blends the increasingly overlapping worlds of high and low art forms. In general Laura’s ‘excessive aesthetic’ is comparable to urban archeology and addresses issues of consumer culture, and the question of good and bad taste. It also celebrates failure in a humourous and ironic manner. Kikauka’s work is inspired and derived from decades of on-going collecting of found objects. Employing the formal strategy of meticulously sorting and organizing these objects, as well as modifying or transforming them, she then creates specifically themed and coded installations that transform gallery and exhibition spaces into densely packed, highly detailed installations. Laura’s categorization speaks of similarities and differences. The Funny Farm studio in rural Meaford is a combination of living and working spaces treated as on-going installations that exemplify, through a density of detail her interest in low class consumer culture. It is with a sense of sarcasm and empathy that she explores this reoccurring theme.