Scott Treleaven

Scott Treleaven, Canadian artist.

Overview

Scott Treleaven is a Canada-born artist whose work employs a variety of media including collage, film, video, drawing, photography and installation. Critical writings have invoked references to Jean Genet, Dennis Cooper, Jack Pierson and Nan Goldin, in describing Treleaven's place in "a lineage of obdurate misfits" (Artforum, Spring 2006). Curator Wayne Baerwaldt further characterized his work as:

'...trad(ing) in images of a dissolute, sensual youth culture at the end of ideology...Treleaven's collages, sculptures, super-8 films and photographs relate to this segment of a highly politicized young rebel subculture. Conceptions of the "end of ideology" and most versions of technocratic theory express the view that in contemporary society the deep rooted social conflicts of the past have been left behind in favour of a general "concensussic? of ends." More specifically...it is held that the class struggles that punctuated 19th-Century European history, and that Marx made the centerpiece of his theoretical scheme (and of his practical project for the revolutionary reorganization of capitalism), have today been dissolved. We are left with the visual remnants of the end game of ideology, the disillusionment that afflicts a post-punk generation outside large scale corporate politics.' (from the 2007 Biennale de Montréal catalogue)

Treleaven first came to attention, while still a student, in 1996 with his initial foray into filmmaking, "Queercore: A Punk-u-mentary". With its unique, collage-style approach, the movie proved to be a decisive documentary of the queercore scene in the 1990s, offering audiences at film festivals across North America and Europe a rare look at the queerpunk scene. At this time he also started work on a densely-illustrated zine project called "This Is The Salivation Army" (1996-1999): a vivid mixture of punk, goth, occult, and industrial music aesthetics, alongside blatant homages to iconoclasts like William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, William Blake, Kenneth Anger and Derek Jarman. During it's three year run the zine became a seeding ground for a variety of concepts and styles that continue to appear in Treleaven's visual art.

In 2002 Treleaven presented an overview of his zine experience in a film entitled "The Salivation Army". Swiftly garnering cult film status, the film moved from underground distribution to the festival circuit, and ultimately to screenings at the MOMA and Art Basel, Switzerland. In 2006 a book marking the 10 year anniversary of the "This Is The Salivation Army" project was published by Printed Matter (NY) and Art Metropole (Toronto), and contained an entire reprint of the zines alongside more recent drawings and collages.

As a contemporary artist, Treleaven's versatility has allowed him to incorporate a wide variety of projects and collaborations into his practice, working with such notable artists as AA Bronson, Lady Jaye and Genesis P-Orridge, G.B. Jones, and Dennis Cooper. In 2005 photographer/director Carter Smith approached Treleaven about adapting his published horror story, Bugcrush, into the Sundance Film Festival award-winning short. Treleaven's work has also been used as album art by a number of bands, including photographs for the interior of Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew's "Spirit If" (both attended the Etobicoke School of the Arts). In 2007, "Some Boys Wander By Mistake", a catalog of Treleaven's collages, photos, sculptures and films emerged, featuring a conversation with artist Jack Pierson, an essay by Terence Hannum of apocalyptic folk band Unlucky Atlas, and five new poems by Dennis Cooper based on the work.

Films

* "Silver" (2006), actors: AA Bronson, soundtrack by Andrew Zealley
* "Gold" (2006), actors: Genesis P-Orridge and Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, soundtrack by Andrew Zealley
* "Lustre" (2005), actors: Massimo & Pierce of Black Sun Productions, soundtrack by Andrew Zealley
* "The Salivation Army" (2002), actors: Kevin Drew
* "Beastboy" (2002)
* "He Is the Boss Of Me" (2001), video for The Hidden Cameras
* "" (1996)

Publications

* "Some Boys Wander By Mistake" (catalogue), by Scott Treleaven, with texts by Dennis Cooper, Terence Hannum, and Jack Pierson, co-published by Kavi Gupta Gallery, John Connelly Presents & Marc Selwyn Fine Art, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4243-4215-0
* "Juicy Mother: How They Met", edited by Jennifer Camper, Manic D Press, 2007, ISBN 978-1-933149-20-2
* "An Emerald Tablet", by Scott Treleaven, Friends of the High Line, NY, 2007
* "The Salivation Army Black Book", by Scott Treleaven, Printed Matter Inc./Art Metropole, 2006, ISBN 0-89439-021-X
* "Generation Hex", edited by Jason Louv,The Disinformation Company, 2005, ISBN 1-932857-20-6
* "This Is The Salivation Army", issue 10, by Scott Treleaven, Art Gallery of York University, 2004 ('The Salivation Army' film is considered issue #9; issue 10 was an addition to "This Is the Salivation Army" zines in name only and not considered part of the original run)
* "", by Hal Niedzviecki, Penguin Putnam, 2000, ISBN 0-14-029172-5
* "This Is The Salivation Army", issues 1-8, by Scott Treleaven, 1996 to 1999

External links

* [http://camt.nyfa.org/level3.asp?id=393&fid=6&sid=17 An introduction to Scott Treleaven's visual art]
* [http://www.artnet.com/ag/fulltextsearch.asp?searchstring=scott+treleaven Artwork by Scott Treleaven]
* [http://www.genesisp-orridge.com/index.php?album_id=7 Genesis P-Orridge writing about Scott Treleaven]
* [http://www.artmetropole.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=shop.FA_dsp_browse_details&InventoryUnitsID=705e804b-c9e8-4271-87c5-5cdc55d0e2d0&CategoryID=&UnitsType=1_1 "The Salivation Army Black Book"]
* [http://www.scotttreleaven.com/ Official site of Scott Treleaven]