Barbara Astman

Dancing with Ché: Enter Through The Gift Shop

Toronto-based artist Barbara Astman explores the commodification of iconic revolutionary Che Guevara in a new exhibition in one of Canada’s most politically conservative cities. Astman creates a faux gift shop stocked with key chains, coffee mugs and other souvenirs featuring an image of Che, the enduring poster-boy of the radically chic. However, nothing is actually for sale. Nor are the black-and-white images emblazoned on Astman’s tourist paraphernalia copies of the famous Korda portrait of the charismatic counterculture hero in a beret. Instead, they show Astman dancing to Latin music while wearing a white Che T-shirt.

“I was thinking about consumer desire, and how I don’t allow you to fulfill that in this installation,” says Astman, who has drawn attention for her photo-based media explorations since the 1970s. “There is an evident frustration that happens. Is this a critique on commodification of the art world? Not really. It’s more a riff on it. I am a working artist who exists in the commercial gallery world, and I am somewhat dependent upon earning a living through my art, so I am a part of the whole commodification discourse."”