In 1994, Michael Snow’s long career as artist and filmmaker burst climatically into retrospective cascade with “The Michael Snow Project.” It was a lavishly marketed Toronto extravaganza, replete with banners of the artist’s signature Walking Woman flapping off lamp-posts all over town. Yet, “The Michael Snow Project” cast a sense of an ending over the artist that was as artificial as the marketing and the publicity.
Snow was sixty-five that year. To some, the artist seemed less prolific, and perhaps, they suggested, he was slowing down. The truth was just the opposite. As usual, though, it was also more complicated. By electing in the 1980s to work on large installations, like the holographic gallery The Spectral Image at Vancouver’s Expo ’86 and the SkyDome colossi, The Audience (1988–89), Snow committed to two high-profile and time-consuming projects. Snow also turned again to ambitious experimental filmmaking. In rapid succession, he produced three films: Seated Figures (1988), (Au Revoir)/See You Later (1990) and To Lavoisier, Who Died in the Reign of Terror (1991). He also recorded five albums of music, including the masterful sound-piece The Last LP (1987), and played in the band CCMC through half a dozen international tours, including one to Japan.
So begins our Summer 2000 cover story. To keep reading, view a PDF of the entire article.
