Opening: AGE OF CONSENT at Doris McCarthy Gallery.

Sue de Beer, Still from Black Sun, Lena Herrgesell (reading magazine), 2004-2005, c-print mounted on aluminum, 101.6 x 76.2 cm, edition of 6. Courtesy the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York.

Age of Consent brings together the work of six Canadian and international artists who look at adolescence in various forms, exploring experiences (real and projected), perceptions (internal and external), myths, dreams and desires connected to this demographic and this time of life. The exhibition includes work in various mediums from video to drawing, sculpture to photography, that looks at notions of socialization and anti-socialization: play, excess, experimentation, negotiating systems of authority, self-presentation and identity. There is a focus on the phenomenon of girlhood, the cultural erasure of the teenager, and ideas around sexualization and youth as biocapital. There is also a strong emphasis on teen agency and a number of the artists included work directly with adolescent co-creators. Temporality is a central factor in considering ideas around adolescence, which is often framed as emblematic of the liminal, as a transitional phase to move through to achieve a more stable state of being. Many of the works in Age of Consent celebrate wading in the uncomfortable unknowing of teenagedom, asking how this paradigmatic period shapes the formation of the self and continues to inform adult subjectivity.

Featuring works by Sue de Beer, Wendy Coburn, Kyla Mallett, Leslie Peters, Rebecca Fin Simonetti, Tobias Yves Zintel. Curated by Talia Linz.

Opening reception: Saturday April 14, from 2:00-5:00 PM.

A free shuttle bus for the opening departs from 401 Richmond Street West at 2:00 PM and returns at 5:00 PM.

Age of Consent runs at the Doris McCarthy Gallery from April 14 – May 12, 2012.