Diana Thorneycroft transports the public to a surreal dimension where staged totems of American culture and identity collide with allusions to her native Canada. With the series, Canadians & Americans (best friends forever… it’s complicated), Thorneycroft presents chromogenic print photographs and a special installation of these provocative tableaus, each piece dripping with dark humor and a subversive whimsy.
Apparent in the artist’s photographs is a dialogue on mass media and popular culture. Specifically she finds herself dissecting the Canadian-United States socio-political dynamic. Employing the use of action figures, toys, and familiar imagery, Thorneycroft unveils a fanciful world full of irony and at times heavy subject matter. Moments of absurdity are cunningly juxtaposed with layers of serene landscapes and backdrops, interspersed with both somber and lighthearted characters. Her photographs depict violence, sexual tension, and the tenuous fraternity between contradictory cultural icons; these elements work collectively to convey a message of satire, all rendered within the artist’s meticulous environments.
FESTIVAL
Paris Photo Los Angeles
May 1st – 3rd, 2015
Fabien Castanier
Paramount Pictures Studios
Los Angeles
780 N. Gower Street
Los Angeles, CA 90038
United States
