And I thought 2013 was busy...
While I'm away, this will be happening in 4 days...
This flattering write-up is borrowed from Elissa Cristall Gallery's website:
“Surround” is an exhibition of three Langara College and Emily Carr graduates curated by Lesley Finlayson. This painting and installation exhibition explores seemingly ordinary spaces in contemporary, challenging and personalized contexts. As much as it’s familiar and nostalgic in some elements of imagery, the work of all three artists is bold, innovative and expertly executed.
Meghann Hubert’s canvases are small and vibrant. The wonder and confinement of domestic space is inviting and repelling at the same time. The familiarity of the kitchen clutter of shelves, fridge magnets, mugs and plants is recognizable. At the same time, the viewer is challenged by the cold, hard strokes and thick gobs of blue and white on the windows that cannot be seen through in the painting Kitchen Window. Amidst the joyful, warm primary colours, defined objects are relocated, reworked and examined as spatial concepts.
At the same time Jessie McNeil delivers us into the fragmented world of contemporary youth in parks and public spaces. The themes are memory and experience. Breaking down space literally and figuratively, McNeil’s work is masterful in its use of white space, collage and defined visual components of both positive and negative elements in what appears to be an ordinary scene, as in Just 2 Guys having a barbecue.
Her character groupings and patterning transform visual content as a chain link fence becomes a painterly visual plane. This work challenges the viewer, who in apparently familiar territory, is asked to float over and above a specific context of ground. Her use of colour and black and white are hallmarks of her generation delivered with an ageless artistry that presents the work as unique and fresh.
References to landscape painting and architecture of towns and cities are reflected in Katherine Neil’s work. Neil’s installation, created specifically for this exhibit, invites us to enter the gallery and contemplate the environment within, and its relationship to the outside world: which is more enticing – the traditional landscape on the canvas cushions, or the view from the gallery?
Neil’s furniture element, a window seat, is produced with materials and forms that serve as a cue for the viewer to begin thinking about the domestic space. The cushions for the window seat are made out of canvas on which a more traditional landscape scene is painted. Set against the urban street-scape visible through the Gallery’s front window, the landscape imagery in this piece creates an interesting juxtaposition.
----
Thank you Elissa and Lesley for your support and generosity. Lesley, you've undoubtedly been an inspiration to any student you've mentored. Kate, Meghann and I are honoured to be a part of this show. I wish I could fly in for the day to celebrate with you all.
This flattering write-up is borrowed from Elissa Cristall Gallery's website:
“Surround” is an exhibition of three Langara College and Emily Carr graduates curated by Lesley Finlayson. This painting and installation exhibition explores seemingly ordinary spaces in contemporary, challenging and personalized contexts. As much as it’s familiar and nostalgic in some elements of imagery, the work of all three artists is bold, innovative and expertly executed.
Meghann Hubert’s canvases are small and vibrant. The wonder and confinement of domestic space is inviting and repelling at the same time. The familiarity of the kitchen clutter of shelves, fridge magnets, mugs and plants is recognizable. At the same time, the viewer is challenged by the cold, hard strokes and thick gobs of blue and white on the windows that cannot be seen through in the painting Kitchen Window. Amidst the joyful, warm primary colours, defined objects are relocated, reworked and examined as spatial concepts.
At the same time Jessie McNeil delivers us into the fragmented world of contemporary youth in parks and public spaces. The themes are memory and experience. Breaking down space literally and figuratively, McNeil’s work is masterful in its use of white space, collage and defined visual components of both positive and negative elements in what appears to be an ordinary scene, as in Just 2 Guys having a barbecue.
Her character groupings and patterning transform visual content as a chain link fence becomes a painterly visual plane. This work challenges the viewer, who in apparently familiar territory, is asked to float over and above a specific context of ground. Her use of colour and black and white are hallmarks of her generation delivered with an ageless artistry that presents the work as unique and fresh.
References to landscape painting and architecture of towns and cities are reflected in Katherine Neil’s work. Neil’s installation, created specifically for this exhibit, invites us to enter the gallery and contemplate the environment within, and its relationship to the outside world: which is more enticing – the traditional landscape on the canvas cushions, or the view from the gallery?
Neil’s furniture element, a window seat, is produced with materials and forms that serve as a cue for the viewer to begin thinking about the domestic space. The cushions for the window seat are made out of canvas on which a more traditional landscape scene is painted. Set against the urban street-scape visible through the Gallery’s front window, the landscape imagery in this piece creates an interesting juxtaposition.
----
Thank you Elissa and Lesley for your support and generosity. Lesley, you've undoubtedly been an inspiration to any student you've mentored. Kate, Meghann and I are honoured to be a part of this show. I wish I could fly in for the day to celebrate with you all.
Comments