Observations Snapping into some memorial pop art, oh yeah!

The world of pro wrestling is a strange and unruly one. For its players, the cast of characters that inhabit the ring play a dangerous game, both physically and in the balancing act between showmanship and egotism. The explosive overexposure of someone like Hulk Hogan can become grinding to even the sport’s die-hard fans. But “Macho Man” Randy Savage (real name Randall Mario Poffo) was a sportsman who seemed to know exactly how to play himself up. He was charismatic, intense, talented, and thoroughly, colourfully tasseled. Which is why so many fans were left devastated earlier this year when Savage died in a tragic car accident. With Savage’s first birthday since his death coming up this week, one local fan and writer, Nathaniel G. Moore, decided to celebrate the magic man and one-time Spider-Man foe with a curated cavalcade of artistic tributes at Savage: Cult Of Personality. Ooohhh yeahhhh.

Walking up the stairs to Kensington’s White House Studio Project, visitors were greeted by a massive, neon-splattered portrait of Randy by Bradford Wilson, the jubilant “Pomp And Circumstance” march (an electric version of which often served as Savage’s entrance anthem), and the floor was littered with trading cards.  A foreign-object folding chair leaned in the corner. The works upon the wall ranged in styles and Savage-specificity: Ryan McClure’s divine crucifixion of the man garbed in a pink bandana and wrap-around shades; Emily Holton recreated Macho’s conception (which involves deity tiger lightning); Vicki Nerino saw to Macho meeting his pal Spider-Man one last time; and Randall Gagne with Jacob Horwood printed a really nice capture of Macho’s last television appearance (in the background crowd at a baseball game, checking his cell phone.)

The exhibit’s opening night on Saturday brought out people, many people, who packed the house to a still, and it probably wasn’t only for Saving Gigi’s tasty “Macho” club sandwiches. Representation from speakers, singers, poets, even Canoe SLAM! imprint’s Greg Oliver (whose son often, adorably, shouted Macho-isms) and, surprisingly, Smith Hart, often seeming touched by these alternative tributes. Montreal’s Anisa Cameron played a quirky tune comparing Savage to the salty, spicy, yummy Slim Jim’s that became one of his ipso-facto catch phrases. Poet Daniel Scott Tysdal (who admitted he’s no singer) sang a riff on Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” only to be interrupted by a Savage impersonator who was taken out with a brief, contained, slamming brawl. Oliver recalled and discussed a legendary bout between Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage at WrestleMania III. Alicia Grant and Cara Spooner performed, well, certainly an inspired interpretation of the wrestler’s life called “Megapowers.” Black tights, war-paint, tassels, piles of glitter and dirt around a square carpet, Grant and Spooner’s gonzo epic seemed to lose Hart around the point where the two began pouring water down their noses and spewing it from their mouths into pans.

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One grounding but apt change of pace was Spencer Gordon’s reading, a graceful but straight list of passed-on lives of professional wrestlers and the tragic ways they ended, from the many sudden car accidents, to the more gruesome case of Chris Benoit. “It’s actually really difficult to write about wrestling,” said Gordon, “about those things that you love in that way. I figured that typical approaches to Randy Savage and even wrestling in general among my generation are very ironic, just cheeky, taking the piss—often they don’t understand a lot about it, they only see the extravagant, ridiculous, and even negative elements of it. It meant something to me, and I wanted something that would reflect that instead of just [laughing] about Slim Jims and bandanas.”

If you missed snapping into the gallery openings, fear not, as the gallery lasts until the night of Savage’s birthday, November 15th.