By Kirstin Shaw

 

On February 13 12MIDNITE, a.k.a. Shon
Franks, will be “bringing his alleyway bra-
vado into the realm of fine art and invading
the suburban outback.” From then until
March 13 the Douglas College foyer will be
transformed into a fiesta of pop imagery

Primarily a _ street artist I2MIDNITE
utilizes pop imagery to “reveal the underly-
ing violence and hypocrisy of social and
sexual roles.” One of his more familiar al-
leyway images is that of the Statue of Liberty
packing a hand gun. “The statement is
quick. At a glance you get the point”,
12MIDNITE explained, “the whole basis of
my art is to make a statement and my basic
statement is just to reveal current society.”

To 12MIDNITE the street is a perfect me-
dium because it “forces even casual
passersby to view the images of the artist.”
12MIDNITE ‘is now “out of the shadowy
alleyways and into the light.”

Born in 1964 in Grand Prairie, Alberta,
12MIDNITE now resides in the West End of
Vancouver. Finishing his third year at Emily
Carr, 12MIDNITE has also studied at U. Vic.
for two years.

What’s on for this show are silkscreens,
paintings and drawings.

12MIDNITE will be showing at the Pitt
Gallery in March and Emily Carr in April.

Alleys to
Gallertes

 

BYTME HAND OF PRE ARTIS]

Comments by 12MIDNITE

 

 

 

 

“Ewer itarrxa pon
“Tra cy ee Ci ws
Ei «<> (om —

THE MISSION

(Warner Brothers)
Written by: Robert Bolt
Directed by: Roland Joffé

 

Reviewed by Jennifer Whiteside

 

n the past few months I’ve seen many
movies. Star Trek was wonderful-just
the kind of fix a Trekkie like me needs.
Crocodile Dundee was fun and light
hearted. In Crimes Of The Heart there

was three potential academy award
nominations. (Although that doesn’t  al-
ways’ mean much, Spacek, Keaton and

Lange were excellent.)

Then I saw The Mission, based on a true
story and winner of the Golden Palm at
Cannes. My life ceased to exist for two
hours as I was drawn into the 18th century
and the lives of the Jesuit priests who

brought God to the natives of South Amer-

ica.
Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons are
Mendoza and Gabriel, two of the mis-
sionaries that live with the Guarani Indians.
Ray McAnally is Cardinal Altamirano, the
Popes’ envoy, who must decide whether
the Church will continue to protect the mis-

sions or disown them.

The Mission is set in a very turbulent peri-
od of history; the European world is im-
mersed in Colonialism and politicians fight
for the best interests of their own country.
Strangely absent from the political arena,
however, are the Guarani Indians who are
the pawns in the territorial games played by
Spain, Portugal and the Vatican. The Vat-
ican decides to close the missions and turn
the Guarani people out of their homes be-
cause Portugal has turned the land over to
Spain.

The tragic horror here is that the Guarani
people are as Christian as the Pope himself;
they are not “heathen”, they are not “unciv-
ilized”, in fact they are lauded for their skill
in constructing musical instruments. But
they do not possess the numbers or the
weaponry to fight this unjust act, so they
die. The triumph here is that those priests
who devoted their lives to helping the
Guarani people die because they have the
strength to stand up for their beliefs. The
hope here lies in a scene at the end of the
film in which a small group of children, the
only survivors of their tribe, in the after-
math of the destruction of their mission
home by Spanish soldiers, sail down the
river in the last canoe.

 

 

 

  

 

Gchary?
[ee
THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL

ALL FOOD ITEMS HALF PRICE
10:00 PM ‘TILL CLOSE

 

 

NEW WESTMINSTER PUBLIC MARKET (604) 526-7848

POPISM: “...meaning of the popul-
us...popular culture, neo-popism...new pop
culture, from comics to television to music...”

IRONY: “...using the ironic: an unexpected
twist.”

ICONOCLASM: “...the removal or defila-
tion of icons.”

JUSTICE: “...That whigh is just.”

 

lst Prize - $100.00
* 2nd Prize - $75.00

* 3rd Prize - $50.00

Judges
lo. be
announced

The contest is
open to all registe-
red Douglas College
students. Sub-
missions must be
typed, double spa-
ced, on a 60 stroke
line with author’s
name, phone number
and student number.
Submit to Rm. 1602
by March ist, 1987
¢/e Kirstin Shaw.

Winners will be
announced April
5th, 1987 in the
Other Press.