Michelle Furlong

Baseball is a meditative pursuit for some and an infuriatingly slow-paced experience for others. Like most sports, it is dictated by time-honoured traditions, rules and regulations, and various other circadian rhythms of the playing field and clubhouse. It also has its own ecosystem of movements (swings, throws, catches, runs), codes (fastball, ace, dinger, punch out), and objects (ball, bat, mitt, base, mound, helmet). The prototypical fanatic knows this universe well, becoming a fervent reader of the game’s undercurrents.

Michelle Furlong’s solo exhibition Inter“play” at Centre Clark explores the liminal and spiritual qualities of sports. The first object encountered, the negative mold of a golden visage, is isolated from the others in the main gallery by a white wall. Delicate and small, pressing into the wall, the piece resembles the inverted form of a statuette typically found on a trophy. The presentation of a present/absent figure connotes a deconstructive approach to celebratory pageantry. This more quiet, introspective look at athletic achievement is supported by Alisha Piercy’s introductory essay, which describes Inter“play” as “stepping over a boundary into another space, a non-space.”