SAFETY GEAR FOR SMALL ANIMALS | BILL BURNS
12.03.2005 | 24.04.2005

Safety Gear for Small Animals is about animal rescue, relocation and rehabilitation. Bill Burns is the Director of the Safety Gear for Small Animals, the largest producer of safety gear for small animals in the world. Using the conventions of a traditional natural history museum, Burns humorously juxtaposes his tiny rescue and safety items for endangered animals with helpful information that guides viewers through the exhibition. But beneath the appeal of the miniscule safety glasses for protecting the white-footed mouse, the Italian mineral water for the masked puddle frog, and the bulletproof vest for our feathered friends, lays a frightening warning about our stewardship of the environment. The exhibition presents a survey of the work of this Toronto-based artist over the past 10 years.

Bill Burns was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria in 1980. He completed his Masters of Fine Arts from Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, England in 1987. Burns is the recipient of awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Burns first launched Safety Gear for Small Animals at New York City's Gallery 303 in 1994. Since then the itinerant Safety Gear for Small Animals Museum has been exhibited in Seoul, London, Los Angeles, Havana, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto, Marseilles and Montreal. 

The exhibition is produced and organized collaboratively by the Curator, Annette Hurtig of Doryphore Curatorial Collective and the ten galleries on its tour across Canada and into the United States.