If Stephen Harper, a gallery full of portraits, and a folksy musical complete with a banjo and a talking dummy sound like a bizarre concoction (even in Ottawa), you’d be right.
A songwriter and visual artists alike brought Arts Court to life with two artistic depictions of Canada’s prime minister—Stephen Harper: the Musical and Stephen Harper: the Portrait Gallery.
The one-man musical, which is written by and stars Canadian singer-songwriter James Gordon, features 19 songs about living under Harper’s government, including “This was the Day that Canada Died” and “Get a Job you Lazy Bum.”
Armed with an eerily realistic Harper ventriloquist dummy, Gordon sang through topics such as Rob Ford, the Idle No More movement, proportional representation, and the Alberta oil sands.
The inspiration for the musical came from his activist work, where he said he felt a “sense of despair” from people he talked to about the country’s current political climate.
“Hearing such a repeated cry from our nation inspired me to try to do something about it,” Gordon said.
The musical encouraged audience participation, which Gordon said was integral to the show.
Audience members chose a new name for Harper to be used by Gordon—on Friday, it was Igor von Hopshst—and had the chance to shout out ways to improve Canada, which were mashed up into an impromptu song.
“If people go away with the sense that yes, they could make a difference, then there’s a critical mass somewhere that’s going to have an effect,” he said. “We can get that critical mass of opposition and protest one person at a time.”
While Stephen Harper: the Musical played at night, during the day art lovers could flock to Stephen Harper: the Portrait Gallery, a collection of works all depicting the prime minister himself.
“We are one of the ugliest countries in the world right now, and that’s you and I being represented by Harper. So I figured, why don’t we represent him?” said Don Monet, curator of the exhibit.
The jewel in the gallery’s crown was Margaret Sutherland’s “Emperor Haute Couture,” the well-known portrait of a naked reclining Harper that made waves on the Internet with its release in 2011.
Laughter filled the dimly lit room as visitors moved from one piece mounted on the wall to another, with Sutherland’s work drawing the biggest crowds.
“God, that would look so great hanging in the Parliament building[s],” a woman said while examining the painting.
A painted Harper doll, a decorated hockey puck sporting the prime minister’s face, and a gold-encrusted frame bordering a steely-eyed stare were some of the other works included in the exhibit.
Monet said he put out the call to a few artists whose work he liked and was blown away by the intense interest this topic sparked.
He said it was important that the pieces weren’t simply “over-the-top vitriol,” but creative pieces that could show how Canada sees Harper.
“There’s nothing like fine art to get at the heart of something. And maybe show the psychology of somebody,” Monet said.
“That’s why people like this. You get to have a say when normally you don’t.”
