The Belgo Report now has a new feature: virtual tours. The galleries in the Belgo building may be closed on Mondays, but we are always open! Now you can get a sneak peek of some of the exhibitions which are currently on show. Just click on the image below to load the tour (worst-case scenario: you have to install the Silverlight plug-in).

Our inaugural virtual tour is of the exhibition His Eyes Were Like Mine by Ben Sloat which opened at Laroche/Joncas on Saturday. The focus of this series of works is the pop-icon Michael Jackson in all of his incarnations: the 80s dance idol, the crazy guy with the pet monkey, the megalomaniac. Sloat’s artworks are as varied as Jackson’s changing personas: classical painting, digital art, animation, collage, found objects, sculpture. Yet what pulls the exhibition together is the recurring motif of the super-star. Michael Jackson permeates the artworks just as he permeated society. He is what holds it all together. Says Sloat: “Everyone has a Michael Jackson story, whatever their age. He is a cultural icon, even an archetype. Everyone can in some way relate to him.” Sloat’s work explores how a mere human can transcend to a god-like status and become both victim and aggressor, male and female, black and white.

So, what is your Michael Jackson story?

Laroche/Joncas, space 410
Ben Sloat
His Eyes Were Like Mine
May 11 – June 11, 2011
www.LarocheJoncas.com