A List
8/25/08

'Champy' Subject Of Work At SLU's Brush Art Gallery

CANTON - "Champy," an installation by Emilia Edwards, is in the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery at St. Lawrence University through October 11. It is based on the alleged monster that resides in Lake Champlain, depicted in a panorama on the gallery's walls.

The work is the first solo, large-scale painted installation by Edwards, whose influences include street graphics and posters encountered during her travels; the works of underground comic artists R. Crumb and Robert Williams; collage artist Jess Collins; and animated television shows such as "He-Man," "The Masters of the Universe," "Batman" and "Ren and Stimpy."

"Champy" rose to popular attention after a reported sighting of a giant water serpent in the late 19th century. At one point, interest was so high that showman P.T. Barnum offered a $50,000 reward for its carcass. Since then, over 300 sightings have been reported. In this installation, Edwards' panorama, another 19th-century phenomenon, "conflates the legend of Champy with the current and very real infestation of the Lake Champlain Basin by the lamprey eel.her stark and monstrous Champy writhes across the gallery walls in a killing orgy, the waters of Lake Champlain portrayed as an inky blackness."

For more information, or to arrange individual or group tours, contact the Brush Gallery at 315-229-5174.

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