Title

Civilization is a Crime Scene

Artist

Matta, A.S.

Date

2005

Owner

SFU Art Collection

Accession Number

NA

Location

Simon Fraser University, Academic Quadrangle

Category

SFU Art Collection

Collection

Public Art

Lat/Long

49.27947957305704,-122.91673879035986

View in Google Maps

http://www.google.com/maps?q=49.27947957305704,-122.91673879035986

A.S. Matta's comic-inspired work was selected as a winning entry in an Anti-Colonial Art Contest organized by SFU Students in response to the installation of the Charles Comfort mural (British Columbia Pageant, 1951) and John Innes paintings, a mural that was on view at SFU from 2004 to 2019, and which deployed racist stereotypes in its imagery. The drawings and photographs portrayed in the black and white lithograph juxtapose monumental statuary, colonial soldiers, and royal monarchs with images of machines and modern cities. Matta's imagery directly mirrors the subject matter of the Charles Comfort mural and John Innes paintings (no longer on view), but the handwritten narrative and graphic style|— resembling a page torn from an anarchist zine — assert a critical revising of these histories, and oppose the grandness of the historical painting tradition, with a counter tradition of creative political writing, commentary and satire. This work is part of the Simon Fraser University Art Collection. The SFU Art Collection contains over 5,800 works. This work is part of the Simon Fraser University Art Collection. The SFU Art Collection contains over 5,800 works. Approximately 1,000 works of art are shown throughout the campus and integrated in public, administrative and common learning spaces. A selection of the most accessible in this diverse repository are incorporated into the City of Burnaby Public Art Registry. For more extensive information about the holdings at SFU, visit: https://www.sfu.ca/galleries/Collections.html (text provided by SFU)