Lukasik-Foss examines line between performance and visual art
Mike Dirisio
Issue date: 11/3/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Between his music and art, Tor Lukasik-Foss has been busy.
Whether as Tiny Bill Cody performing his "post-cabaret" fused rock at night, or as himself exhibiting his unique contemporary art by day, he has been hard at work.
It is in the area between his music and art that he has developed his exhibit Protoscenia, currently on display at Rodman Hall. After working at both for most of his life, he has found that neither will win over the other in grabbing the entirety of his focus, and thus has chosen to combine the two.
His interest in writing and performing music began early, with big hopes, though the harsh reality of the music business eventually caught up with him.
"I was that classic Canadian kid who kinda went through his 20's with stars in his eyes, and wanted to be famous and rich and really well known, and you know, live the rock and roll life," recalled Lukasik-Foss. "As you get older it's harder to get people out to gigs, and it's harder to keep your energy up if you're not becoming rich and famous off your music."
His art practice had been developing simultaneously, however, as a separate entity. Exhibiting his art across Ontario since 2002, he has developed creative and clever ways of commenting on communication between public and private areas of society. Prior to his performance-based works, he began to feel like he was in a rut with his art, and needed another area to draw from. This is when he decided to blur the lines between his music and art.
"Basically I had set up my art practice and my music practice to be kind of separate from one another, so you know, I was making pictures of things and sculptures of stuff then at night going out and playing in bars," explained Lukasik-Foss. "So I just spent a bit of time and I told myself I wanted to just give myself the challenge of trying to meld the two things, trying to solve some of my problems as a performer, or address some of them, or even just declare that I'm not just an artist, I'm an artist and a performer."
Whether as Tiny Bill Cody performing his "post-cabaret" fused rock at night, or as himself exhibiting his unique contemporary art by day, he has been hard at work.
It is in the area between his music and art that he has developed his exhibit Protoscenia, currently on display at Rodman Hall. After working at both for most of his life, he has found that neither will win over the other in grabbing the entirety of his focus, and thus has chosen to combine the two.
His interest in writing and performing music began early, with big hopes, though the harsh reality of the music business eventually caught up with him.
"I was that classic Canadian kid who kinda went through his 20's with stars in his eyes, and wanted to be famous and rich and really well known, and you know, live the rock and roll life," recalled Lukasik-Foss. "As you get older it's harder to get people out to gigs, and it's harder to keep your energy up if you're not becoming rich and famous off your music."
His art practice had been developing simultaneously, however, as a separate entity. Exhibiting his art across Ontario since 2002, he has developed creative and clever ways of commenting on communication between public and private areas of society. Prior to his performance-based works, he began to feel like he was in a rut with his art, and needed another area to draw from. This is when he decided to blur the lines between his music and art.
"Basically I had set up my art practice and my music practice to be kind of separate from one another, so you know, I was making pictures of things and sculptures of stuff then at night going out and playing in bars," explained Lukasik-Foss. "So I just spent a bit of time and I told myself I wanted to just give myself the challenge of trying to meld the two things, trying to solve some of my problems as a performer, or address some of them, or even just declare that I'm not just an artist, I'm an artist and a performer."
Be the first to comment on this story