| City space
is liberally peppered with billboards naming private businesses, and road
signs naming public figures. Pictures and text occupy most visual terrain.
Parkettes are often named after prominent public figures offering a break
from commercially owned territories. The grass, gardens and benches of
a park serve as a tribute to the historical or contemporary figure they
are dedicated to as much as the iron or stone monuments contained in these
spaces. The parkette signifies the achievements of the public personage,
as much as the nameplate mounted on a stone pillar on the grounds.
Paul Grajauskas work frequently deals with signs and signifiers. In Beaty Parkette, he will install a large sign asking the question, “Can you see what I saw?” Multiples, and assemblages are also a key aspect to Grajauskas art. Another piece in his reflexive sign collection was mounted on the Ward Island Ferry Dock, asking, “What are you waiting for?” It enquired of the reader’s of hesitation to jump into Lake Ontario. Grajauskas signs
point to the subjectivity of site. The experience and reaction to
a locale is particular to the individual. The viewer may possess a great
understanding of the social significance of the person a parkette is named
after, or they may relate the space to something entirely different.
Beaty Parkette, at the cross roads of King and Queen Street West, Roncesvalles Avenue and the pedestrian walkway over the Gardiner Expressway, is naturally annotated with many signs. A large billboard, many traffic directions and the monument in Beaty’s tiny garden occupy this high traffic area. Grajauskas’s sign, does not point to what we should buy, where we are on a map, or the historic significance assigned to the particular area, but rather it asks us of our own opinion of the particular location. The question “Can you see what I saw?” turns the viewer’s attention to the personal and subjective. We are asked to relate an internal signified to this external space. |
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