Cat video furor leaves art gallery vandalized

by John Saunders, the Globe and Mail, July 21, 2001

A Spadina Avenue art gallery caught in an uproar about an alleged cat snuff video was hit by vandalism again yesterday.

Art System has never shown the video but has displayed unrelated work by Jesse Powers, a 21-year-old student. Mr. Powers and his 24-year-old roommate face animal-cruelty charges over the video, which is alleged to show a cat being tortured and killed.

The gallery has become a lightning rod for animal lovers' anger. Earlier this week a brick was thrown through one of its windows. Yesterday, a man was charged with mischief after the glass in its street door was smashed.

Art System co-director Jubal Brown, 28, said he chased a middle-aged man and woman out of the gallery with a hammer yesterday after the man swung a bicycle lock at him and knocked over a table. He said the man shattered the street door as he left.

Mr. Brown was briefly famous in 1996 for vomiting on paintings in public galleries as a form of artistic expression. He and co-director Daniel Borins, 27, are graduates of the Ontario College of Art and Design, whose student union pays the gallery's bills.
Both said they did not want to get into a debate about whether the video at the centre of the case could be called art.

"I think harming animals in any way is a totally abhorrent and contemptible thing in any situation, whether it's for the production of food, clothing or artwork," Mr. Brown said.