Team Macho opened their latest show, Fancy Action Now!, at Magic Pony on Queen Street this week, and as is always the case with this gang of dorkily charming uber hipsters, it was a packed affair with wall-to-wall irony fashion -- big sunglasses, tapered jeans, neck kerchiefs flouncy skirts, vintage everything -- and its oh-so-self-conscious wearers spilling out onto Queen Street.
The Team can't help it if their acolytes are all refugee clowns from an 80s theme park. So don't blame them. And don't let it obscure the art, either. I have to admit, I was a little dubious about the boys, until I met them in their subterrean lair with their six-toed cat -- no, I am not making this up -- about a year ago, on the occasion of their last really big show, Team Macho is a Tough Man. What I found was as far from art pretense as one can get (and rightly so, frankly), and beneath the (admittedly thickly applied) layer of smart-alecky goofiness was a gang of guys who were really, truly committed to making work their way, together.
And I mean really together: the piece you see above, from Fancy Action Now!, which closes June 17, is typical: The whole gang, five of them, lay out sheets of drawing paper. Someone starts. Everyone finishes, adding doodles, etchings, scribbles, colour. Maybe it's back and forth from drawng board to the bathroom. Maybe it's a scrawl inserted after a hard night of drinking (not you, Bucky), or a similar remorseful doodle hatched the morning after. Not all of the pieces work, in my opinion, but they all contain such spirit and humour they're hard not to love. And when they do work, well, they're in a whole new genre. I have no idea what it is, but let's call it the ridiculous sublime. The Team takes not taking their art seriously very seriously, and God bless them for that.
By the way, Wikipedia says this about them. It's pretty much a team Macho piece in and of itself. Print and save, before it's gone!
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