STREET ART | Seen in T.O. :: WWJMD? ::: »What Would Joni Mitchell Do?«

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PHOTO > Meaghan Beames

PHOTO > 26.media

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PHOTO > Ivvonka Frankova

PHOTO > David J. Phillips

WWJMD?

How provocative. Hmm … let’s see. Perhaps she would light a cigarette and ponder the “this massive mess we’re in” and then go paint a picture of it all. That’s my guess to the question visual artist Cecilia Berkovic poses.

These posters, wheatpasted along Toronto’s Queen Street West and Parkdale in October 2011, are a response to British artist (and Turner Prize winner) Jeremy Deller’s What Would Neil Young Do? poster from 2006:

designKULTUR thinks this one is better. After all, Joni is the heavier thinker of the two (and, as Janet J noted, “Joni Mitchell never lies”). Berkovic’s poster is so much more developed conceptually. It’s beautifully conceived and elegant. Furthermore, designKULTUR really would prefer a serifless world — Berkovic has the better grip on typography.

Berkovic’s visual art explores aspects of consumer culture, leisure, queer identity and feminism. Her projects include other poster projects, publishing, several photo-based series, and art installations.

In 2001 she participated in a residency program at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in Germany (wow!). She is currently based in Toronto.

• Many thanks to the photographers who captured the moment!

STILL SMOKIN’ > Joni + Jane, October 2011: Icons of any era

tumblr | David J. Phillips

tumblr | 26.media

Camera+ | Meaghan Beames

yfrog | Kaydi

twitpic | Ivonka Frankova 

The Guardian | The collaborator: Artist Jeremy Deller doesn’t sell much work, and was embarrassed by the Turner prize

Katherine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects | Cecilia Berkovic

Circuit Gallery | Untitled 7, from the Double Page Spread series